MEC&F Expert Engineers : 05/01/15

Friday, May 1, 2015

AMTRAK, CSX SUE THE TRUCKING COMPANY OVER HALIFAX COUNTY TRAIN CRASH








MAY 1, 2015

HALIFAX COUNTY, N.C.

A lawsuit was filed Friday by Amtrak and CSX after a wreck involving with an Amtrak train in Halifax County.

The train collided March 9 with a tractor-trailer on the tracks at Highway 903 near Highway 301 in Halifax County. Fifty-five people were injured.

On Friday, Amtrak and CSX announced they are suing Turner Transfer Company, which was in charge of that tractor-trailer.

The suit stated the trucking company is to blame. The companies are each seeking more than $75,000 each and protection from getting sued.



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HALIFAX, N.C. 

As workers finished clearing debris from where an Amtrak passenger train derailed earlier this week, state and federal investigators were busy piecing together how an oversized tractor-trailer came to be stopped on the tracks in North Carolina and why there was apparently no warning given to the train's engineer.

Among the evidence will be the locomotive's "black box" recovered at the scene and the special state permit that allowed the trucking company to exceed length and weight limits as it hauled an electrical distribution facility headed to New Jersey.

The 127-ton tractor-trailer was about three times the size and weight of a standard 18-wheeler, so huge it required a Highway Patrol escort, and so tall that it had to take back roads to avoid some Interstate overpasses.

Authorities say the truck driver involved in Monday's crash, which left 55 people injured, was struggling to negotiate a tight left-hand turn across the tracks from one two-lane highway to another while carrying its enormous load when the passenger train came roaring around a curve in the tiny community of Halifax.

No charges have yet been filed against the driver, though law enforcement officials said Tuesday that was still under consideration.

The route taken by the truck was approved in advance by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, including the fateful turn at the railroad crossing.

According to the permit, the big rig was 164 feet long, with 13 axles to support the combined weight of 255,000 pounds. A standard 18-wheeler has five axles and tops out at 80,000 pounds.

An eyewitness said the driver was moving back and forth over the tracks trying to make the turn for about eight minutes before impact.

Between 30 and 35 passenger and freight trains use this stretch of CSX railroad daily, but no officials provided any indication that CSX or Amtrak was warned of the driver's difficulties at the crossing.

"That's all going to be part of the investigation," CSX spokeswoman Kristin Seay said.

On Tuesday, about a dozen workers were at the scene attaching harnesses to clear the wreckage of the modular building the truck was pulling.

Several people in bright yellow CSX vests declined to comment and referred a reporter to the corporate office.

Amber Keeter, 19, stuck in traffic Monday with her baby directly behind the tractor-trailer, told The Associated Press that the crew spent a long time preparing to cross the tracks at the intersection of highways U.S. 301 and N.C. 903 in Halifax County, North Carolina, only to get stuck because of the load's length.

She said she rolled down her window and asked a flag man if he could alert the railroad, but "he said he didn't think so."

Then, "the railroad lights started blinking, and so the tractor-trailer driver tried to gun it forward," she said. The driver jumped out "just a couple of seconds before" the crash.

Well-established protocols require truck drivers and their trooper escorts to "clear their routes and inform the railroad dispatchers what they're doing," said Steve Ditmeyer, a former Federal Railroad Administration official who teaches railway management at Michigan State University. And even if they lose contact, a toll-free emergency number is prominently displayed at each crossing.

"That dispatcher would have immediately put up a red signal for Amtrak and radioed Amtrak to stop," Ditmeyer said.

In this case, the train engineer "didn't know about the truck until he was coming around a curve. He had no long vision," Ditmeyer said.

Alerting the railroad wasn't the responsibility of the trooper, who had only 25 seconds or so to react after the approaching New York-bound train set off warning lights and the crossing arms came down, North Carolina Highway Patrol Spokesman Lt. Jeff Gordon said.

The train's conductor, Keenan Talley of Raleigh, was among the injured.

The truck driver, John Devin Black of Claremont, escaped without injury. The AP was unable to reach Black on Tuesday. His listed phone numbers rang as disconnected. The rig owner and permit-holder, Guy M. Turner Inc. of Greensboro, did not respond to an email requesting comment.

Most of the passengers treated at hospitals were released by Tuesday.

The Federal Railroad Administration's database shows at least five previous crashes at the same Halifax crossing, all involving vehicles on the tracks. The most recent was in 2005, when a freight train hit a truck's "utility trailer." In 1977, an Amtrak train hit a car at 70 mph. The driver got out in time, but a railroad employee was injured, that accident report said.

Monday's crash was the third serious train crash in less than two months. Crashes in New York and California in February killed a total of seven people and injured 30.


LEAD POISONING: SIGNS & SYMPTOMS







How can I tell if my child has been exposed to lead?
Signs of lead poisoning are not always easy to see. Children can be poisoned by lead and may not look or act sick. Many children who are lead-poisoned look and act healthy. Sometimes the vague symptoms may be mistaken for other illnesses such as upset stomach or flu. Because of this, lead poisoning may go unrecognized.

Your health care provider will ask you some questions to see if your child is at risk for lead poisoning. The only way to know for sure if your child has been exposed to lead is to have their blood tested. Blood tests are used to find out how much lead is in a child's blood. The test is simple. Your health care provider takes blood from your child and a lab will test the blood.
Some possible signs and symptoms of lead poisoning in children are:

  • Tiredness or loss of energy
  • Hyperactivity
  • Irritability or crankiness
  • Reduced attention span
  • Poor appetite
  • Weight loss
  • Reduced attention span
  • Trouble sleeping
  • Constipation
  • Aches or pains in stomach
How can lead poisoning affect my child?
Children can get lead in their bodies by swallowing or breathing in dust that contains lead. Lead is a poison that affects every organ and system in the body. There is not function or need for lead. Very high levels of lead exposure can cause coma, seizures and death. Even a little lead can make children slower learners. Other health effects include:

  • Brain damage and lower intelligence
  • Behavior and learning problems
  • Hyperactivity
  • Impaired speech and language
  • Slowed growth
  • Kidney and liver damage
  • Hearing damage
The effects of lead on a child can be permanent and irreversible.

What are the symptoms of lead poisoning in adults?
People with high levels of lead in their bodies often do not seem sick. The symptoms that occur are very general and can happen for many reasons. Overexposure to lead can cause serious damage even if the person has no symptoms. A blood lead test is the only way to find out if an adult has lead poisoning. Lead is a powerful poison that stays in your body a long time. It can build up in your body to dangerous levels even if you are exposed only to small amounts of lead over a long period. An elevated blood lead level shows that lead is building up in your body faster than it can be eliminated.
Signs or symptoms that may be related to over-exposure to lead are:

  • Tiredness or weakness
  • Irritability
  • Trouble sleeping
  • Headache
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Aches or pains in stomach
  • Loss of appetite
  • Constipation
  • Nausea
  • Weight loss
How does lead affect adults?

  • Impotency
  • Brain and nervous system damage
  • High blood pressure
  • Digestive problems
  • Kidney problems
  • Anemia
  • Reproductive system problems
  • Hearing, vision and muscle coordination problems

JURY AWARDS $9.3 MILLION IN LEAD-PAINT POISONING CASE. HOWEVER, $7.9M IN DAMAGES WILL BE CAPPED AT $350K





APRIL 30, 2015

BALTIMORE, MD (AP)

A Baltimore jury has awarded $9.3 million to a man who says he was poisoned by lead-based paint at his former rowhouse.

The Daily Record of Baltimore reports 22-year-old Terrance Smith Jr. lived in a home in Baltimore from birth until he was six years old. In tests between 1993 and 1995, his blood-lead level was 10, twice the CDC’s recommended level of 5 in children. Attorney Brian S. Brown says Smith only reached eighth grade and has been unable to work because of his condition.

Brown says Smith’s case featured the lowest measured blood-lead level he has ever brought to trial. He said the home wasn’t tested for lead.

Lawyers say Smith’s award includes $7.9 million in noneconomic damages, which will be capped at $350,000 by the state.

UN OFFICIALS CALL TO ELIMINATE LEAD PAINT BY 2020







MAY 1, 2015

United Nations agencies recently announced a goal of eliminating lead paint worldwide within the next five years.
The Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint — led by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Health Organization — unveiled the target at a Washington, D.C. Earth Day celebration earlier this month.

The initiative hopes to phase out the manufacture and sale of lead paint. UNEP officials said the paint remains permitted in numerous countries and still represents about 10 percent of total lead use.

The group said childhood lead exposure contributes to an estimated 600,000 new cases of intellectual disabilities each year, and that exposure accounts for 143,000 deaths annually, largely in developing nations.

"More than 90 years after the League of Nations called for a ban on lead in paint, and despite the existence of many safe alternatives, young children and pregnant mothers in the developing world are still exposed to high levels of the dangerous toxin through unsafe paints," said UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.

Officials said they hope to match the success of UN efforts to end the use of lead in gasoline. Only three countries in the world still use leaded gasoline, according to a UNEP statement.