On March 12, 2018, about 2:15 p.m. local time, a CSX Transportation (CSX) equipment operator was fatally injured while working with a CSX model BR-201202 ballast regulator (roadway maintenance machine) on the main track near Wartrace, Tennessee, on the CSX Chattanooga Subdivision. The CSX manager of work equipment was traveling on the highway in the area when he saw the ballast regulator operator climb into the ballast regulator cab. Shortly thereafter, he heard a radio transmission from the operator reporting a problem with a proximity switch on the ballast regulator. The manager drove toward the ballast regulator to assist the operator and saw him under the east ballast regulator wing. The operator died at the scene.
We determined that the probable cause of this accident was the ballast regulator operator’s attempt to repair the machine without powering it off and using lockout/tagout procedures, which re-established the electrical connection to the proximity sensor, allowing the machine to move and strike the operator while he was out of the cab, resulting in his death.
We made recommendations to the Federal Railroad Administration, CSX Transportation and the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association.
