Page 14 - Occupational Health & Safety, July 2018

INDUSTRY UPDATE
national Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers; the Brotherhood of Locomotives Engineers and Train- men; the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen; CSX; Sound Transit; Amtrak; Washington State DOT; and the Washington State Utili- ties and Transportation Commission.
The DuPont crash was a derailment of the Amtrak Cascades passenger train 501 as it made the inaugural run on the Point Defi- ance Bypass, a new passenger rail route south of Tacoma, Wash., that was built to reduce congestion and separate passenger and freight traffic and was designed for faster speeds and shorter travel times than the previous route. The train was traveling at 78 mph, nearly 50 mph above the speed limit for that location, when the lead locomotive and all 12 cars derailed while approaching a bridge over Interstate 5. Three people on board were killed.
The Cayce crash involved an Amtrak passenger train that was mistakenly diverted onto a side track, where it crashed into a sta- tionary freight train. Two Amtrak employees died in the accident and 116 people were injured. NTSB officials said the southbound Amtrak Train 91 was diverted because a rail switch had been man- ually set to move a train onto the track where the CSX train was parked. NTSB Chairman Robert L. Sumwalt has said a padlock held the switch in its alignment, which is standard procedure when switches are manually operated.
NTSB issued an urgent safety recommendation 11 days after the Cayce crash. Its investigators found that the day before the crash, CSX personnel suspended the traffic control signal system to install updated traffic control system components for the imple- mentation of positive train control. “The lack of signals required dispatchers to use track warrants to move trains through the work territory. In this accident, and a similar accident March 14, 2016, Granger, Wyoming accident, safe movement of the trains, through the signal suspension, depended upon proper switch alignment,” NTSB reported Feb. 15. “That switch alignment relied on error-free manual work, which was not safeguarded by either technology or supervision, creating a single point of failure. The NTSB concludes additional measures are needed to ensure safe operations during signal suspension and so issued an urgent safety recommenda- tion to the Federal Railroad Administration seeking an emergency order directing restricted speed for trains or locomotives passing through signal suspensions when a switch has been reported re- lined for a main track.”
Record Number of Unused Pills
Collected in Drug Take Back Day
A record number of unused, unwanted, or expired prescription medications were collected during the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s 15th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day at close to 6,000 sites across the United States, DEA reported May 7. The agency was able to collect and destroy nearly one million pounds, almost 475 tons, of potentially dangerous prescription medications. Since fall 2010, DEA has collected a total of 9,964,714 pounds of prescription drugs, or 4,982 tons.
“National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is a day for every American, in every community across the country, to come togeth- er and do his or her part to fight the opioid crisis, simply by dis- posing of unwanted prescription medications from their medicine cabinets,” DEA Acting Administrator Robert W. Patterson said.
“This event, our 15th, brings us together with local, state and federal partners to fight the abuse of prescription drugs that is fueling the nation’s opioid epidemic.”
In addition to curbing the potential safety and health hazards posed by disposing of unused medications by flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash, National Prescription Drug Take Back Day events remove opioids and other medica- tions from homes where they could be stolen and abused by fam- ily members and visitors. DEA’s next Prescription Drug Take Back Day is Oct. 27, 2018.
California’s Governor Signs Two Water Efficiency Bills
California Gov. Jerry Brown signed two bills, SB 606 and AB 1668, into law on May 31. They’re intended to help the state better pre- pare for droughts and climate change by establishing statewide wa- ter efficiency standards. “In preparation for the next drought and our changing environment, we must use our precious resources wisely. We have efficiency goals for energy and cars—and now we have them for water,” Brown said.
SB 606 by State Sen. Robert Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) and AB 1668 by Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) set guidelines for efficient water use and a framework for the imple- mentation and oversight of the new standards, which must be in place by 2022. The two bills will:
■ Establish an indoor per person water use goal of 55 gallons per day until 2025, 52.5 gallons from 2025 to 2030, and 50 gallons beginning in 2030
■ Create incentives for water suppliers to recycle water
■ Require both urban and agricultural water suppliers to set annual water budgets and prepare for drought
“This is another important step in the legislature’s focused effort to reengineer water policy away from crisis management and to- ward a 21st century approach. I want to thank the governor and his staff for their creative vision and my colleagues in both houses for their hard work to bring this across the finish line,” Hertzberg said.
Friedman agreed, saying the governor “challenged every Cali- fornian to embrace water efficiency during the drought, and with his signature on AB 1668, we’ll have the state working collaborative- ly with local governments and urban water suppliers to put in place water efficiency standards that will help every community focus on sustainability. It’s a balanced approach that puts efficiency first and gives water agencies the flexibility to embrace innovation and tailor
12 Occupational Health & Safety | JULY 2018
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