Washington – According to the Federal Railroad Administration, railroads are required to furnish all rail crew members who spend time in the cab of a train transporting hazardous cargo with an atmosphere-supplying emergency escape breathing device.
The provision is added to the FRA’s occupational noise exposure guidelines in a final rule that was published on January 26. To better reflect the enlarged subject matter, the agency is modifying the name of that section of the regulation to “Occupational Safety and Health in the Locomotive Cab.” Additionally, a clause that stated the preemptive impact of this section of the law is being removed as “unnecessary.”
The final rule, which will take effect on March 26, will apply to people who operate on trains, their supervisors, those who do deadheading, and anybody else who might be inside the locomotive’s cab.
The National Transportation Safety Board’s proposal and the Rail Safety and Improvement Act of 2008, which was passed by Congress in response to the 2004 and 2005 railroad worker deaths, led to the inclusion of the breathing device requirement. Following several rail disasters, the workers breathed in chlorine gas, which caused their deaths.
personnel who are in the locomotive’s cab and are classified by the railroad as deadheading personnel, train employees, and their supervisors are among the workers covered by the final regulation.