NTSB -- NTSB Safety Recommendations R-12-12 through -15

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NTSB SAFETY RECOMMENDATION

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National Transportation Safety Board

Washington, DC 20594

March 2, 2012

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NTSB Safety Recommendations R-12-12 through -15

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The National Transportation Safety Board makes the following

safety recommendations to the Canadian National Railway

Company:

Implement a process, consistent with the principles of a

safety management system, to ensure accuracy and visibility

of emergency contact information at all highway/rail grade

crossings on your system. (R-12-12)

Implement a program consistent with principles of safety

management systems to periodically test all aspects of your

internal emergency communication system to ensure that

personnel are familiar with the system's operation and that

emergency notifications can be communicated immediately to

any chief dispatcher or rail traffic controller in your

system. (R-12-13)

Examine and revise your postaccident toxicological testing

program to ensure that rail traffic controllers are tested

unless there is clear and convincing evidence that they were

not involved in the accident. (R-12-14)

Modify your weather warning operating and safety rules and

procedures to (1) consolidate weather policies in a single

rule, accessible to all operating personnel, (2) require

that rail traffic controllers promptly and precisely notify

affected train crews of weather alerts and identify for

train crews the specific hazards to train operation

represented by a weather alert, and (3) require either that

a track inspector inspect the affected track before train

operations are permitted within an affected weather alert

area or that engineers operate their trains at restricted

speed and crews watch for water on tracks, possible

washouts, and misaligned track in the affected areas until

the track is inspected. (R-12-15)

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http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/recletters/2012/R-12-012-015.pdf

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The complete recommendation letter is available on the Web

at the URL indicated above.

The letter is in the Portable Document Format (PDF) and can

be read using the Acrobat Reader 5.0 or later from Adobe

(http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html).

An archive of recommendation letters is available at

http://www.ntsb.gov/recs/letters/letters.htm.

Electronic versions of letters may or may not include

enclosures; however, related publications, accident

briefs, and aviation accident synopses may be found

on the NTSB website.

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