Notice2024-24118
Safety Advisory 2024-01; Roadway Maintenance Machines-Importance of Communications and Compliance With Red Zone Procedures
Primary source
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Published
October 18, 2024
Issuing agencies
Transportation DepartmentFederal Railroad Administration
Abstract
FRA is issuing Safety Advisory 2024-01 to emphasize the importance of rules and procedures regarding the safety of roadway workers who operate or work near roadway maintenance machines (RMMs). This safety advisory recommends that railroads and contractors review and update their rules regarding communication between roadway workers who work near RMMs and the operators of those RMMs, and increase monitoring of their employees for compliance with existing rules and procedures (including through operational testing). This safety advisory also recommends that railroads review and update their rules regarding work/red zones and evaluate the work/red zone distances for each type of RMM. In addition, this safety advisory recommends that railroads and contractors conduct additional safety briefings to raise worker awareness of the hazards associated with operating and working around RMMs.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 202 (Friday, October 18, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 202 (Friday, October 18, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 83940-83941]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-24118]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Railroad Administration
Safety Advisory 2024-01; Roadway Maintenance Machines--Importance
of Communications and Compliance With Red Zone Procedures
AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Department of
Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of safety advisory.
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SUMMARY: FRA is issuing Safety Advisory 2024-01 to emphasize the
importance of rules and procedures regarding the safety of roadway
workers who operate or work near roadway maintenance machines (RMMs).
This safety advisory recommends that railroads and contractors review
and update their rules regarding communication between roadway workers
who work near RMMs and the operators of those RMMs, and increase
monitoring of their employees for compliance with existing rules and
procedures (including through operational testing). This safety
advisory also recommends that railroads review and update their rules
regarding work/red zones and evaluate the work/red zone distances for
each type of RMM. In addition, this safety advisory recommends that
railroads and contractors conduct additional safety briefings to raise
worker awareness of the hazards associated with operating and working
around RMMs.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Yu-Jiang Zhang, Staff Director, Track
and Structures Division, Office of Railroad Safety, FRA, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590, at telephone: (202) 493-6460,
or email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#5d242837343c333a7327353c333a1d393229733a322b"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="e099958a89818e87ce9a88818e87a0848f94ce878f96">[email protected]</span></a>.
Disclaimer: This Safety Advisory is considered guidance pursuant to
DOT Order 2100.6A (June 7, 2021). Except when referencing laws,
regulations, policies, or orders, the information in this Safety
Advisory does not have the force and effect of law and is not meant to
bind the public in any way. This document does not revise or replace
any previously issued guidance.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
In September 2023, FRA issued Safety Advisory 2023-06, titled
Roadway Maintenance Machines--Importance of Clear Communications and
Compliance with Applicable Rules and Procedures. FRA addressed two
accidents in that Safety Advisory, each involving a railroad contractor
working on a main line and being fatally injured by an RMM. In Safety
Advisory 2023-06, FRA recommended that railroads and contractors review
and update their rules regarding the safety of roadway workers who
operate or work near RMMs, communicate any resulting changes to their
employees, and increase monitoring of roadway workers, railroad
employees, and contractors for compliance with all applicable rules and
procedures.
To date, in calendar year 2024, two roadway workers have been
fatally injured while working in the vicinity of RMMs. This Safety
Advisory is based on FRA's preliminary findings and the respective
railroads' latest reporting and is not intended to attribute a cause or
assign responsibility for these incidents on the acts or omissions of
any person or entity.
The following is a summary of the circumstances involved in the
incidents:
In February 2024, an RMM struck and fatally injured a track foreman
working on CSX's main line in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. FRA's
preliminary investigation shows that at the time the incident, the
track foreman was part of a four-person work group tasked to flag a
highway-rail grade crossing for a ballast regulator that would be
entering the crossing. When the work group arrived at the crossing, the
track foreman walked to the north of the ballast regulator and stood in
the gage of the track approximately seventeen feet from the ballast
regulator. As the ballast regulator moved north to pull ballast into
the track, the foreman was not visible to the operator of the ballast
regulator and the machine struck and fatally injured the track foreman.
In April 2024, a Union Pacific manager was fatally injured when he
was struck by an RMM while working on the main line in McNeil,
Arkansas.\1\ The manager was serving as the roadway worker in charge
(RWIC) of a work group filling areas along an embankment with ballast.
The RWIC was directing the on-track operations of a track-hoe excavator
(e.g., instructing the excavator operator where to dump ballast). The
RWIC positioned himself alongside the excavator, which was in a blind
spot of the operator, and was struck and fatally injured by the bucket
while it was being retracted.
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\1\ FRA issued a Safety Bulletin in response to this incident.
See Safety Bulletin 2024-03 (available at <a href="https://railroads.dot.gov/elibrary/safety-bulletin-2024-03-employee-fatality-working-around-track-equipment">https://railroads.dot.gov/elibrary/safety-bulletin-2024-03-employee-fatality-working-around-track-equipment</a>).
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These incidents represent the worst-case scenario that can occur
when roadway workers are working on or near RMMs. These incidents
highlight the continued need for railroads to examine their rules and
procedures for protecting roadway workers who operate or work near RMMs
and the need for roadway workers to be vigilant in maintaining a safe
distance from any operating RMM.
Recommendations
Considering the above discussion, FRA recommends that railroads and
railroad contractors:
1. Review and update work/red zone procedures \2\ to:
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\2\ Although individual railroads define the ``work zone'' or
``red zone'' surrounding RMMs differently, generally the ``work
zone'' or ``red zone'' is the area surrounding the RMM, which, if
entered by an individual creates the potential for injury as a
result of being struck by the equipment.
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a. Address differences in sight distances and line of sight for
different types of RMMs; and
b. Prohibit a roadway worker from entering the work/red zone of any
RMM unless communication is established and maintained between that
roadway worker and the RMM operator.
2. Ensure work/red zones are discussed in job briefings anytime an
RMM will be part of a work group.
3. Increase monitoring (including operational testing under 49 CFR
part 217) of roadway workers, railroad employees, and contractors for
compliance with all existing applicable rules and procedures (and any
updated rules and procedures to result from paragraphs (1 and 2)),
particularly those involving the operation of RMMs and roadway workers
working on and in the vicinity of RMMs.
4. Conduct additional safety briefings to raise worker awareness of
the hazards associated with operating and working around RMMs.
5. Review Safety Advisory 2023-06; Roadway Maintenance Machines--
[[Page 83941]]
Importance of Clear Communications and Compliance with Applicable Rules
and Procedures during the additional safety briefings.
FRA considers this Safety Advisory responsive to NTSB Safety
Recommendation R-23-23 \3\ and FRA encourages all railroad industry
members to take actions consistent with the recommendations of this
Advisory. FRA may modify this Safety Advisory, issue additional safety
advisories, or take other appropriate action necessary to ensure the
highest level of safety on the Nation's railroads, including pursuing
other corrective measures under its rail safety authority.
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\3\ NTSB Safety Recommendation R-23-23 recommends that FRA
``[i]ssue a safety alert to railroads regarding the importance of
establishing roadway maintenance machine standoff distances that
take into account the ability of an operator to see a worker or
object in the track gauge behind a roadway maintenance machine.''
Issued in Washington, DC.
John Karl Alexy,
Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety, Chief Safety Officer.
[FR Doc. 2024-24118 Filed 10-17-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P
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