(The following story by David Patch appeared on the Toledo Blade website on December 25. Tim Hanely is the BLET’s State Legislative Board Chairman in Ohio.)
TOLEDO, Ohio — When a tank car in a CSX railyard in Lake Township was suspected of leaking vinyl chloride shortly before Thanksgiving, local emergency officials didn’t hear about it for several hours.
Eric Larson, the Lake Township fire chief, and Brad Gilbert, director of the Wood County Emergency Management Agency, say a recent meeting with railroad representatives encourages them to believe that such a lag won’t occur the next time around.
“It was probably one of the most beneficial, productive meetings I’ve ever had with them,” Mr. Larson said last week. CSX has promised to call local authorities for as minor an incident as one wheel on a hazardous railcar leaving the track, even if there’s no perceived risk of a leak or spill, he said.
CSX spokesman Gary Sease said as well that the meeting produced “a clear understanding on when and how we should contact the township.”
CSX officials said after the Nov. 19 incident at Stanley Yard in Lake Township that nothing actually leaked from the tank car in question, and Mr. Larson said he has no evidence to the contrary. But even in a case where a hazardous-materials incident proves to be a false alarm, he said, local authorities should be notified just so they know what’s going on and can be better prepared if a true hazard exists.
Tim Hanely, state legislative representative for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, said the union has no proof a leak occurred either, though several railroad workers reportedly developed headaches or became nauseated during the wee-hours incident. Seven were taken to Bay Park Hospital in Oregon for observation and tests.
“We have not seen any records that would indicate any injury” occurred, Mr. Hanely said.
Vinyl chloride is an industrial chemical used in the manufacture of plastics, especially pipe. At normal temperatures and pressures it is a gas, but it is transported in tank cars as a pressurized liquid. It is a suspected carcinogen and when inhaled, vinyl chloride causes symptoms similar to drunkenness. In large doses, it can cause respiratory failure.
In the Nov. 19 incident, a rail employee reported seeing liquid dripping from a tank car carrying a residual amount of the chemical.
CSX managers moved workers away from the car and summoned an environmental contractor to investigate, but Mr. Larson said local authorities didn’t learn of the situation until a nearby resident dialed 911.
CSX said the drip turned out to be from dew condensing on the outside of the tank car.
During the follow-up meeting, Mr. Larson said, CSX representatives agreed that local managers would contact local authorities during future hazardous-materials incidents, while the company headquarters would remain responsible for making required reports to state and federal regulators.
Legally, the fire chief said, the railroads don’t have to involve local emergency crews if a leak occurs but is contained on company property. But it’s better to have authorities aware of such a situation and ready to respond in case a seemingly innocuous problem suddenly gets worse, he said.
“There had been some problems, but I think we’ve got that all ironed out,” Mr. Gilbert agreed. “I’m pretty confident that things will run smoother if something happens again. … Communications early and often are better than none at all. And if local authorities know what’s going on, then there’s greater comfort for the public too.”
Mr. Hanely said a briefing from union representatives who attended the recent safety meeting encouraged him too.
“In the past, we have not been satisfied” with how CSX handles hazardous-materials incidents and preparedness, Mr. Hanely said. “We have an indication that they may be willing to work with us to generate an emergency plan that would be beneficial to all.”
But from a labor perspective, he said, such a plan needs to include rapid notification of all workers at a rail facility – notification that under current operations would be complicated by the need to communicate with different groups of workers who use different radio channels within the yard.
While aircraft radios are equipped with an emergency channel that can be used to override normal communications, no such system exists on the railroad, Mr. Hanely said. And in railyards like Stanley, the yardmaster’s office is a nerve center for communication, so if another incident like the vinyl chloride scare occurred near that office, there could be nobody manning the radio, he said.
“There may need to be some investment on the part of the carrier for new equipment and training,” Mr. Hanely said. “In this day and age, my car can be unlocked from outer space, but the railroads that have been around since the 1850s haven’t dealt with this problem. That’s unacceptable.”
CSX’s Mr. Sease said he was not familiar with the employee-safety issue that Mr. Hanely raised, “but it’s certainly something we could work on.”
“If the employees feel that’s a problem, there are certainly ways they can raise that,” the spokesman said. “Our terminal management is certainly willing to listen to any concerns, and make any changes necessary.”