FAMES Alert Issued After Track Worker Fatality
Written by Jennifer McLawhorn, Managing Editor
Courtesy of FRA
MCNEIL, Ark. – The Fatality Analysis of Maintenance-of-Way Employees and Signalment issued an alert after a maintenance-of-way manager was fatally injured in Arkansas.
On April 12th, RT&S reported on the fatality of a Union Pacific track worker who was killed after being struck by machinery. A Fatality Analysis of Maintenance-of-Way Employees and Signalment (FAMES) issued a news alert. The alert says at around 6:33 p.m. (CDT), a “maintenance-of-way manager was struck and fatally injured by a roadway maintenance machine in McNeil, AR.” The work group had been using an excavator and were replacing a culvert. The maintenance-of-way manager was between the excavator bucket and the track on the machine.
The FAMES alert reminds workers that “on-track safety briefings should emphasize the risks associated with RMM movements and address items such as noise, machine spacing, obstructed visibility, and proper communications whenever roadway workers are working near RMM(s).” Workers should also “establish clear communication and maintain proper clearance between RMM operators and workers on the ground,” which includes the swing radius of machines. The last take-away given from FAMES was clear communication “for initiating movement, slowing, stopping, and changing direction.”
