(The following article by Nardy Baeza Bickel was posted on the Holland Sentinel’s website on July 31.)
HOLLAND, Mich. — Two men were critically injured Wednesday afternoon and two others were hurt in the Waverly railroad yard in Holland Township.
According to police, workers were spreading gravel on the railroad tracks about 3:15 p.m. with a ballast regulator, which weighs about 35,000 pounds and runs on the railroad tracks. The driver of the machine didn’t see workers on the tracks and hit two of them and ran over two others.
“It’s very unique accident. It’s very unfortunate. These are employees that work with each other on a daily basis year round,” said Sgt. Mike Brookhouse with the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department.
Terry Coleman, 44, of Ohio, is in critical condition and Joel Falba, 52, of Pennsylvania, is in serious condition after being airlifted to Spectrum Hospital from the scene. Tom Herrmann, 52, of Holland, and Tim Butcher, 45, of Illinois, were transported to Holland Community Hospital, and were later treated and released.
About 40 workers were at the scene of the accident. Many could not believe what they had just witnessed.
“It was bad, they were there just fixing up nails and stuff,” said J.P. Smith, who said he’s worked for the company for about 24 years.
“We have bad (working) conditions, but we hadn’t have an accident in several years.”
Brookhouse said human error and not mechanical problems seem to be the cause of the accident, which remains under investigation.
CSX officials were not available for comment Wednesday night.
It was unclear Wednesday night what government agency would handle the investigation.
Robin Spaulding, a spokesman for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said he notified the Federal Railroad Administration office in Chicago about the incident. It hasn’t been determined yet if this will be an OSHA investigation or if it will be handled by the Federal Railroad Administration.
Brookhouse said CSX investigators are working at the scene and that the sheriff’s department will cooperate in the investigation.