# Murphy's Law Strikes Again



## Chops (Dec 6, 2018)

The UP, like all the Class One carriers, invest a monumental amount of time and money in keeping track safe. But if one damn thing can go wrong, it will. The inside scoop is that the conductor was hanging off the ladder of a 100 car shove off the main line into a siding. A work crew left, and forgot, an unlighted, unflagged derail to protect a section they had been working on. The lead two cars got tipped over, crushing the conductor. He leaves behind a wife and four children. 

Needless to say, "heads will roll." It was remarked that a derail accompanied by a simple saw horse with a flashing yellow light would have saved a lot of grief. 









Union Pacific Employee killed in El Paso train derailment - KVIA


UPDATE (08/30): The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the derailment. Police confirm the man that died is 49-year-old Mario Aurelio Navarro, who was the train conductor. Investigators with the Police Department’s Crimes Against Persons Unit determined that earlier work was...




kvia.com


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

You might even see a criminal prosecution for negligent homicide or involuntary manslaughter.


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

We all make mistakes at work, but God forbid we ever kill or injure someone because if them!!


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## J.Albert1949 (Feb 3, 2018)

You're not going to like this post.

I went to the original article, which was poorly written (as is most "news" from the reporters they're turning out nowadays).

Sounds like a track crew was working on that particular track, and that either the work was not yet finished or some track equipment was left on the track or perhaps in the yard that the track led to.

If either scenario in the above paragraph is true, the track department may have been required (by FRA regulations and railroad rules) to "protect" the track, and using a portable derail is one kind of "protection" that they use.

It's the responsibility of the conductor supervising the backup move to check the track to make sure it's clear of obstructions -- and a derail would certainly constitute "an obstruction" on the track.

The article states that the train "derailed near the 7700 block of Barton Street before 10 p.m."
Sounds like the conductor missed seeing the derail in the dark.
Could the derail have been painted a color that did not show up well?
Don't know that (but management will still argue that it's the conductor's responsibility to check the track before authorizing the movement).

Too bad that he made a small mistake that had big consequences...


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## Chops (Dec 6, 2018)

I've worked in the medical field much of my life. With bar code technology, there are many guard rails to prevent giving the wrong pill or the wrong dosage, it has tremendously increased the safety of one's hospital visit. Not to mention, all medications going into a patient's profile are cross referenced instantaneously by computer for adverse interaction. Trouble is, when it gets busy, there are ways to shortcut the guardrails. When a big blow out happens, it is almost always because someone bypassed the system to trim a few minutes. 

You would not believe how easy it is to louse it up, particularly back when everything had to be checked and transcribed by hand. Now, if you get the wrong patient, or the wrong dose, or the wrong time, or the wrong route, or the wrong pill, the computer locks you up until you verify you know exactly what it is you are supposed to be doing. 

No different with trains. such as Automatic Train Protection, and the legions of safety inspectors literally lurking in the bushes Still a man will skip an air brake test before moving a 15,000 ton train to save ten minutes that is needed to pressure up the entire train. Things like that. Get into those bad habits and sooner or later, Murphy's Law, like a trickle of water finding the one open crack, will engage. 

Getting into bad habits is like texting and driving. I have to lock my phone in the glove compartment to avoid compulsively whanging off a text while streaming down the highway.


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