Washington — The National Transportation Safety Board has issued a collection of recommendations to a number of entities in a brand new report on the Feb. 3, 2023, train derailment in East Palestine, OH.
The report highlights key security findings from NTSB’s investigation of the incident. The company decided {that a} faulty wheel bearing on one of the train’s rail vehicles failed and overheated, inflicting the derailment and a subsequent hazardous materials launch. The 38 rail vehicles that derailed burned for greater than two days, forcing hundreds of close by residents to evacuate.
In all, NTSB issued 34 new security recommendations – and reiterated a beforehand issued suggestion – to the transportation secretary, Federal Railroad Administration, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, state of Ohio, Association of American Railroads, Columbiana County Emergency Management Agency, Chlorine Institute, Norfolk Southern Railway, International Association of Fire Chiefs, International Association of Fire Fighters, American Chemistry Council, Oxy Vinyls LP, and National Volunteer Fire Council.
Among the recommendations:
To the transportation secretary: Require FRA to subject laws for inward-facing recorders that embrace picture and audio recordings. If mandatory, legislative authority needs to be used to enact this suggestion.
To FRA: Using classes realized from the East Palestine incident, replace and republish the company’s 2007 vent and burn experiences and make them obtainable to emergency responder associations.
To PHMSA: Require that hazardous materials placards have the ability to face up to fires and incidents lengthy sufficient to fulfill their features of permitting emergency responders to instantly determine hazards.
To the state of Ohio: Amend the firefighter coaching statute and revise volunteer firefighter certification requirements to meet NFPA 1010, the Standard for Professional Firefighters.
To NVFC: Identify obstacles to enough hearth and emergency response coaching for volunteer firefighters, notably for conditions the place hazardous supplies are current. Publish actions that states, municipalities and the personal sector can take to present flexibility for volunteer firefighters to receive coaching.
To Norfolk Southern Railway: Review and revise procedures to instantly present emergency responders with an correct copy of the train consist upon turning into conscious of a crash/derailment incident.
To Oxy Vinyls: Update the Safety Data Sheet for vinyl chloride monomer to precisely mirror the potential dangers, and the hazards that enhance such dangers.
