On April 11, 2024, about 6:20 p.m. local time, a Union Pacific Railroad (UP) manager of track maintenance (manager) was struck and killed by a roadway maintenance machine (RMM) during maintenance operations on the main track at milepost 366.25 on the Pine Bluff Subdivision near McNeil, Arkansas.[1] The RMM was a hi-rail excavator that was being operated by a B&P Enterprises employee (operator).[2] The manager was on the south side of the excavator when he was struck by the excavator’s bucket and momentarily pinned between the bucket and the excavator’s tread before falling to the ground.[3] Immediately after the accident, the employees called emergency responders and attempted life-saving measures. Visibility conditions at the time of the accident were sunny and clear; the weather was 72°F with a light wind and no precipitation. The ground was wet because it had rained for 2 days before the accident.
[1] (a) All times in this report are local times. (b) The hi-rail excavator could operate on and off railroad track and was positioned on the track at the time of the accident. There were two other excavators at the accident site; they were positioned on the ground on either side of the track.
[2] B&P employees were contractors hired by UP to perform track maintenance. B&P owned and provided the excavators.
[3] The tread on either side of the excavator is a continuous band of plates wrapped around wheels and is used for propulsion on the ground.
We determined that the probable cause of the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) manager fatality was the manager entering the excavator’s work zone without informing the operator, as required by UP rules. Contributing to the accident were the roadway workers’ non-compliance with safety procedures and the inadequate safety oversight provided by UP and B&P Enterprises at the work site on the day of accident. Further contributing to the accident were the inadequate safeguards employed by UP and B&P Enterprises to compensate for human errors.
