(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Railroad Safety: No less important now than it was in times of old [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-05-02 Trains — among all automated modes (land, air and sea) — today are the safest. To say things got this way by accident would be in no way bending the truth. It’s fact. For a time going way, way back, railway casualties were quite common. And not uncommon as well was for workers to lose life and/or extremity in performing what were then very dangerous jobs. However, eventually, and only after it was recognized by observers — interested and disinterested alike — that the danger presented to railroaders was just too great, that steps to improve conditions were taken. Some jobs were so dangerous, in fact, the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1888 reported over 2,000 railroad workers were killed in accidents, and as many as 300 brakemen succumbing to their injuries alone, coupling and uncoupling railroad cars. Which is why in March 1893, the first of three congressional safety appliance acts was signed into law. It provided that no later than Jan. 1, 1898, all trains and freight cars involved in interstate commerce must be equipped with: 1) automatic end couplers, and 2) compressed-air train brakes. Related to that, before these safety measures went into effect, it was a common railroader practice to ride on top of freight cars to apply or release manual brakes, the controls (hardware) for these devices extending from the wheel assemblies under said cars all the way up to the tops of said freight cars’ (like boxcars) roofs. According to a U.S. Labor Department accounting, in the eleven-year timespan from 1983 to 1993, and having to do with the mishandling of hazardous materials, in all of that time, there was only one reported employee-attributable or connected death. Credit the improved safety performance to inventions such as right-of-way high/wide and dragging-equipment detection and other innovations like heat-treated curved-plate railroad wheels. Even with all of the provisions and tools in place like defect-detection equipment, accidents resulting in, for instance, a derailment, not only can they happen, but have happened. The ability of this nation’s railroad industry to repeatedly transport the volumes of manufactured goods, natural resources like coal and ore, chemicals, as well as people that it does and in a dependable, efficient, safe and often in expeditious manner, is what keeps America’s trains rolling — along, of course, with the personnel tasked with carrying this mission out. And, given what’s riding the rails and keeping in mind what could potentially be at stake, in this most-important role, it is essential that this is done with the utmost in safety in mind at all times. That’s key. All material copyrighted 2024, Alan Kandel. All Rights Reserved. Article originally published on May 2, 2024 at: allabouttrains.substack.com/... [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/5/2/2238631/-Railroad-Safety-No-less-important-now-than-it-was-in-times-of-old?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/