Casselton, a town in North Dakota, had to be evacuated because a train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded. This led to acrid and hazardous smoke blowing into the town and potentially exposing residents to serious health risks. Exposure to burning crude can cause a host of negative side effects including shortness of breath, coughing,…
It’s dark and starting to rain. Squinting through your windshield your car slows to a stop. You have just begun to move forward when suddenly your head slams against the window, the airbag deploys and everything goes black. Across the United States there are more than 140,000 thousand train crossings. Crashes just like the one…
Two CSX employees, a conductor and a railroad engineer, were injured when a train derailed along General Thomas Highway in Southampton County, Virginia (VA). In addition to the injuries, the train derailment resulted in a fire after a CSX train engine crashed to its side and a fuel tank was punctured. The image below is directly from the…
The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration handed down yet another stinging decision against a railroad operator it determined violated the rights of an employee by retaliating against an injured worker. Earlier this month, OSHA ordered Pan Am Railways, Inc. to pay $50,000 in compensatory and punitive damages to an injured worker at…
The Federal Railroad Administration has taken action over the weekend and issued a new set of emergency safety regulations for railroad companies following the recently deadly train derailment in Canada, which left 47 people dead. The safety directives include orders preventing operators from leaving oil transport trains unattended without first seeking government approval. The FRA…