Document ID: FRA-2009-0031-0141
Agency: fra
Document Type: Notice
Title: Roadway Worker Authority Limits: Safety Advisory: Importance of Clear Communication, Compliance with Applicable Rules and Procedures, and Ensuring that Appropriate Safety Redundancies are in Place in the Event of Miscommunication or Error; Correction
Posted Date: 2014-12-01T05:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 230 (Monday, December 1, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Page 71152]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-28380]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration

[Safety Advisory 2014-02]

Roadway Worker Authority Limits--Importance of Clear 
Communication, Compliance with Applicable Rules and Procedures, and 
Ensuring that Appropriate Safety Redundancies Are in Place in the Event 
of Miscommunication or Error; Correction

AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Department of 
Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice of Safety Advisory; Correction

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SUMMARY: On November 25, 2014, FRA published a document in the Federal 
Register to reemphasize the importance of clear communication and 
compliance with applicable rules and procedures regarding roadway 
worker authority limits on controlled track, and to ensure that 
appropriate safety redundancies are in place to protect against 
miscommunication or error. The document contained an incorrect job 
designation (``foreman'' instead of ``roadway worker in charge'') for 
an employee in the first incident discussed in the safety advisory that 
resulted in an employee fatality, and an incorrect location 
(``Danbury,'' instead of ``West Haven,'' Connecticut) for the second 
incident that also resulted in an employee fatality. The safety 
advisory otherwise remains unchanged.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kenneth Rusk, Staff Director, Track 
Division, Office of Railroad Safety, FRA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., 
Washington, DC 20590, telephone (202) 493-6236; or Anna Nassif Winkle, 
Trial Attorney, Office of Chief Counsel, FRA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue 
SE., Washington, DC 20590, telephone (202) 493-6166.

Correction

    In the Federal Register of November 25, 2014, in FR Doc. 2014-
27955, on page 70268, in the third column, correct the second and third 
paragraphs to read as follows:

In November 2013, a BNSF Railway Co. (BNSF) lead welder was killed 
when his welding truck collided with an eastbound freight train on a 
single main track at a location that was outside of his roadway work 
group's limits of authority. It appears from FRA's preliminary 
investigation that the two-man work group set on the track at a 
location outside of their authority limits after the workers 
disagreed regarding the extent of the authority limits and after not 
being able to quickly resolve the discrepancy because the screen 
displaying their authority was not visible at the time they set on 
the track. The roadway worker in charge was apparently attempting to 
``wake up'' the computer screen as the operator was setting their 
vehicle on and operating over the track, rather than remaining clear 
of the track until the discrepancy could be resolved, as required by 
the railroad's good faith challenge procedures.
    In May 2013, a Metro-North Commuter Railroad Co. (Metro-North) 
track foreman was struck and killed by a passenger train in West 
Haven, Connecticut, after a student dispatcher prematurely removed 
the control signal blocking devices that had been established for 
the track foreman's work group, and cleared the signal for the 
passenger train. Investigation by FRA and the National 
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the student 
dispatcher assumed that the foreman no longer needed the main track 
after the dispatcher had lined the foreman-piloted locomotive crane 
into an out-of-service track. Several weeks prior to this incident, 
a very similar incident occurred on the same railroad. However, in 
that situation, the roadway worker detected the advancing train 
movement in sufficient time to move away from the track and avoid 
being struck by the train.

    Dated: November 26, 2014.
Brenda Moscoso,
Director, Office of Safety Analysis.
[FR Doc. 2014-28380 Filed 11-28-14; 8:45 am]
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