Chapter Vlll RAILROAD SAFETY INSPECTION PROGRAMS

Chapter RAILROAD SAFETY INSPECTION PROGRAMS Chapter Vlll RAILROAD SAFETY INSPECTION PROGRAMS INTRODUCTION Inspection has been conceived by the Federal adequate effort. Important to the assessment of Railroad Administration, the States, the rail- inspection’s “effectiveness” in preventing ac- roads, and their employees as being one of the cidents is that a framework of prescribed key components of railroad safety, The theory Federal regulatory powers and specifications in is that since both empirical and research in- some way defines many of the inspection ef- formation exists as to conditions that give rise to forts. However, at the present time, no clear accidents, inspection by persons knowledgeable way of gauging the causal relationship of in- in a particular area will give sufficient warning spection to accident prevention appears to exist. when such conditions are developing so as to The Federal, State, and railroad approaches allow preventive actions to be taken or when to safety inspection are focused on specific com- such conditions have developed to allow correc- ponents of the train and its equipment (in- tive action to be taken. Although the theory is cluding track) and of the railroad’s operating easily understood, the implementation of a practices. Inspectors generally have to comply comprehensive inspection program is impeded with a different set of requirements for each by several factors. They include: component that is the subject of an inspection Difficulty of precisely identifying the causal program and therefore, inspectors tend to be agents in accidents and their correlation highly specialized and perform only one type of with accidents; inspection. Difficulty of establishing accurate measures Brief overviews of the Federal, State, and of effectiveness for the inspection activity railroad programs follow: because it must depend to some extent on determining events or conditions that did not occur which otherwise might have; and Federal lnspectionl Difficulty of maximizing the resources available from all parties concerned, given Federal inspection activities focus primarily their differing mandates, areas of responsi- on five major aspects of the railroad. These are: bility, and thus approaches to the problem. ● Despite the impediments, however, an inspec- Track, ● tion program that depends upon the interlock- Operating practices, ing efforts of the FRA, the States, and the s Motive power and equipment, ● railroads is in place. The word “program” is Signals and train control, and used here in its broad sense, because the efforts c Hazardous materials. of the FRA, the States, and the railroads are not singly conceived and because these efforts do ‘Federal inspection programs include that administered not always coincide as to motivation or authori- by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) ty. These efforts are predicated upon the com- however, this program is not discussed in detail in this mon assumption that inspections will prevent chapter since i t is designed to investigate only serious accidents ( including any that involve a fatality). Thus, its accidents—although the parties may disagree as program is not one that directly bears on the relationship to how much inspection (at which levels, by between a comprehensive inspection effort and the reduc- whom, and with what checks) constitutes an tion of accidents. 107 108 Railroad Safety The FRA has enforcement power in each of Program.” At present, the program permits the these areas, with the ability to assess civil States to inspect in two areas. These are: penalties ranging from $250 to $2,500 per viola- Track, and tion in the first four areas and up to $10,000 in the hazardous materials area, as well as criminal Motive power and equipment. penalties for hazardous materials. Although the Their inspection authority in the motive, aim of the FRA program is accident prevention, power, and equipment areas is limited to freight it emphasizes the enforcement implications of car safety standards and does not include safety the inspection system, since it believes that its appliance standards. State inspectors are re- mandate under the law is to monitor carrier sponsible to the States for which they work. compliance with Federal regulations. The rail- Federal authority over them is limited to the road is itself responsible under the law for en- State’s eligibility (including prescriptions for in- suring that it is in compliance with the regula- spector qualifications) for the State Participa- tions and thus also for directly preventing action Inspection Program and to the monitoring cidents. Therefore, one of the FRA inspector’s of the inspection records of performance. The main functions, when lack of compliance is State inspector, like the Federal inspector, rec- determined, is to recommend assessment of ommends enforcement action to the FRA in penalties to the FRA Office of Chief Counsel. Washington. Only if the FRA fails to act on the The inspection effort represents one of FRA’s inspector’s recommendation within 180 days most significant safety programs in terms of from the date of the violation does the State dollars and numbers of personnel assigned to it have the right to enforce directly under this directly or in support of it. program. In FY 1976, for instance, $1,341,964 was ex- In FY 1976, the State program is estimated to pended in direct costs for conducting 1,587,349 have cost approximately $341,925 in Federal individual inspections ranging from record money, matched by approximately the same checks to physical inspection of various aspects amount in State money. These dollars sup- of the railroads’ operations and equipment. ported the activity of 29 State inspectors and During this same time, there were 386 FRA Of- trainees. (See appendix D.) fice of Safety personnel authorized in the field and in headquarters for carrying out the inspection program. Three hundred and sixty of these Railroad Inspection positions were filled. (See appendix D.) Railroad inspection activities cover all of the aspects of Federal and State inspections pro- State lnspection2 grams. In addition to ensuring compliance with Federal requirements, railroads use the inspec- The potential scope of State inspection action process to serve as an “early warning tivities was redefined by the Federal Railroad system. ” Inspection provides many railroads Safety Act of 1970 (P.L. 94-458). It con- with information as to where preventive main- templated a program in which States would tenance or modification/redirection of other work with the FRA to enforce Federal regula- operating practices may be necessary. The rail- tions, with the FRA financing a portion of these road inspection system as it pertains to safety is activities. The program that has been developed monitored internally by management, with its is known as the “State Participation Inspection effectiveness being gauged by the twin results of preventing accidents and of preventing the necessity for FRA enforcement action. The FRA and State inspectors check on the adequacy of ‘Since this report is concerned with the implementation of Federal laws, it will not cover any aspects of State in- railroad inspection by conducting inspections of spection effort that are not related to Federal requirements. their own to ensure compliance with Federal Ch. VIII Railroad Safety Inspection Programs ● 109 standards; however, railroad inspections—both FRA or State inspections. Figures are not by railroad policy and by Federal regulation— available on the total costs of railroad safety must take place with far greater frequency than inspections. FEDERAL INSPECTION PROGRAMS The Federal approach to railroad safety has practices in the railroad industry, including the included an inspection component, since the enforcement of all the Federal laws and related Locomotive Inspection Act was enacted in regulations designed to promote safety of February 1911 to check boilers for the safety of railroads, as they relate to employees, travelers, employees and others. Since that time, the Safe- and the general public. 4 In this light, the Office ty Appliances Act3 (45 U.S. C. 1 et seq.), the of Safety provides support to the field activities Power Brake and the Signal Drawbar Act (45 through its Office of Safety Programs, which U.S.C. 9), the Inspection Act (U. S.C. 26), the houses divisions responsible for compliance and Transportation of Explosives and Other enforcement and program guidance, and its Of- Dangerous Articles Act of 1960 (18 U.S. C. fice of Standards and Procedures, which houses 831-835), the Hours of Service Act (45 U.S. C. divisions covering each of the inspection pro- 46), and the Railroad Safety Act of 1970 (45 gram disciplines as well as a division which U.S. C. 431) have been amended or enacted to analyzes accident and inspection reports (see ap- empower the executive branch to enforce safety pendix D for a schematic representation of the regulations promulgated under its authority. Office of Safety Organization). Each of the five principal inspection programs At the present time, there are a total of 221 carried out by the FRA implements portions of 5 FRA inspectors at outstations. (See appendix D these laws. All of the inspection programs are for summary by program. ) These inspectors are posited on the ability of inspectors to measure stationed in 31 of the 50 States. The safety in- the existing conditions against a standard for spectors are assigned to one of the five specific which they are inspecting. inspection programs and work under the super- Many of the inspection programs were vision of a Supervising Railroad Safety Inspec- originally administered by the Interstate Com- tor. While the FRA has placed importance on in- merce Commission but were transferred to the spectors having in-depth knowledge/experience FRA in 1967, with the establishment of the in the substance of a particular program, the Department of Transportation. There have been Supervising Inspector is not required to have numerous reorganizations and significant per- similar knowledge in all five programs.

Load more