Safety Focus

Collision with Train Injures Log Truck Driver

BACKGROUND: On a spring morning in the Southeastern U.S., a log truck driver was starting to transport his second load of the day.

The weather was not a contributing factor to the accident, as conditions were clear and dry.

PERSONAL CHARACTERIS-

TICS: The driver had only been on the job for 17 months; however, he did have previous truck driving experience. The driver was familiar with the route from the woods to the mill since the logging crew had been operating on this tract for some time.

ACCIDENT: The driver proceeded with caution upon approaching the first set of unguarded railroad tracks that crossed the road.

After crossing the tracks, the driver traveled approximately one mile before approaching the second set of unguarded tracks. The truck was traveling approximately 45 mph, which was the posted speed limit. The driver began to become distracted as the glare from the sun started to impact his vision, and at this exact same moment, his cell phone began to ring. The driver answered the phone call from his boss while using his hands-free device. Both distractions led to the driver failing to notice the flashing signal lights at the railroad crossing warning of an oncoming train. As the driver began to cross the tracks, the locomotive collided with the cab, causing the train to derail. The locomotive was traveling at a low rate of speed, but the collision caused the truck to spill its load of logs and be pushed approximately 60 feet down the tracks. The owner heard the collision over the phone and, after several attempts to contact the driver, was finally able to connect with him and learn more details about the precise location of the accident.

INJURY: When the business owner arrived at the accident scene, EMS had already started transporting the injured truck driver and locomotive engineer to a regional medical center by ambulance. The truck cab was crushed, but the driver was protected by the heavy-duty headache rack, which prevented logs from penetrating the cab. The driver was admitted to the ICU and diagnosed with four shattered ribs and a liver laceration. He was released from the hospital two days later for an 8week in-home recovery period. Drug and alcohol screening was negative.

UNSAFE ACTS/ CONDITIONS:

l The driver failed to yield the right of way to oncoming train by disregarding the flashing warning signal. l The driver was operating a moving vehicle while distracted and not paying attention to his surroundings.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

l Always be aware of your surroundings and avoid any distractions while driving. l Use “Do Not Disturb” mode or a similar safety feature on smartphones to eliminate the temptation to answer calls or texts while driving. l Stop a safe distance away from the tracks at railroad crossings to ensure the tracks are clear of oncoming trains.

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redundancy built in to help handle maintenance, these silos allow the facility to perform work without stopping the press hall. The silos are able to feed both lines of the press hall, which is broken up as line one with CPM presses one through six and line two with CPM presses seven through twelve. Each press uses 70 mm dies, with a capacity of 5.5 tons/hour maximum. Herndon admits that on good days the facility reaches five tons/hour, saying this is truly a year to dive into the reliability of the process.

There is one cooler for each pair of presses, to help cure pellets. Shaker screens remove fines, dropping to a conveyor that re-enters the process. Accepted pellets travel on a bucket elevator into one of four Chief pellet silos.

Load out is carried via another bucket elevator to the truck load out building. All production is hauled via truck to the Port of Port Arthur, just an hour and a half away from Woodville, mainly using company owned trucks.

Kice Industries’ Process Group engineered and designed dust collection and process air systems required for the wood grinding and pelleting. This work included designing various dust collection

21 ➤ pick-up points, laying out duct runs to various points, overall dust collection manifolds, and dust collection equipment layout of the various baghouse filters. Kice’s complete engineering package included construction drawings of each system as well as installation and startup. Kice-manufactured centrifugal fans were employed as the air movers along with the Kice CR and VR Series baghouse filters used to capture the dust. Kice airlocks and PD blowers were integral to these and other processes throughout the facility. Any material not big enough for the baghouses goes to an airlock, screw and back into the process. Additionally, a Nestec RCO treats VOCs off the process— adding a layer of redundancy in VOCs control with both the Nestec RCO and TSI RTO. The facility utilizes a GreCon fire detection system.

Maintenance, Safety

The team is making a concerted effort to address leakage—if something needs to be fixed, it’s taken down and fixed. Herndon says this is in line with his desire to bring more pride to the plant and create excellent, clean working conditions. He adds, “I want everyone to feel good when they come to work. Their tools are in the right place. All that stuff is rolled into helping us be safe and do a good job. We’re continuing to work on it.” The facility has basic policies and procedures to keep everyone safe, and the plant in the best condition it can be. Ansley and Herndon are in the process of reviewing and refreshing the safety programs, to make sure everything is handled in a safe manner. They’ve also rolled out safe work practices that are more orientated toward the pelletizing industry.

Ansley says that anyone can say safety is a core value, but for him, it is more than just expecting someone to do something specifically. Instead, he draws it back to equipping employees with the right tools to do their jobs—whether it be a literal tool handed to them, a program to report near misses, or a service program to put in work orders and work requests. These are things that he believes might not on the surface level seem like “safety” but are part of the safety culture that will drive change to the organization. He believes, “These changes are what leads to a highly reliable facility because you focus on fixing problems that can lead to safety issues. It all ties together. Earl and I know what this plant can be. We’re on a path; it’s getting there. For the people that have been here for 10 years, it’s getting them to a spot where they see it and see it come to fruition. I am excited about the journey and where we are going.” SLT

Jason Ansley Earl Herndon