WASHINGTON — A BNSF Railway conductor was working in an area “with insufficient walking space available … to perform trackside duties” when he was struck and killed during a switching move, the National Transportation Safety Board said in describing the probable cause of an April 2021 accident in Louisiana, Mo.
The NTSB accident report, completed June 6, was released Monday.
The accident on April 7, 2021, involved a local based in West Quincy, Mo.; the conductor had more than 20 years of experience and had been declared medically fit for duty, although NTSB investigators found in a review of the victim’s medical record that he had conditions that could cause difficulty walking, increase the likelihood of falls, or impact coordination of thinking and motor processes. The NTSB was unable to determine if these conditions contributed to the accident; there were no witnesses to or video of the accident.
The Missouri Department of Transportation, in a post-accident inspection, found the walking space at the Dyno Nobel plant where the fatality occurred did not meet a state requirement that walkways along industrial track extend 8 feet, 6 inches from the track center. NTSB investigators had found that walking space between the end of the track crossties and a series of large rocks was as little as 21 inches in the area where the conductor was struck by cars during a shoving move.
Dyno Noble subsequently rebuilt all walking spaces to extend 9 feet from the track center.
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