Baton Passed

By Christopher Hart, Acting Chairman

For the past four and a half years, I’ve had the privilege of serving as the National Transportation Safety Board Vice-Chairman, assisting Chairman Deborah Hersman. Yesterday, after nearly ten years at the NTSB, including almost five years as Chairman, Ms. Hersman stepped down. She has been selected to become President and CEO of the National Safety Council (NSC). With her departure came the “passing of the baton.” It will be a privilege and an honor to serve as the Acting Chairman of the NTSB.

Although the leadership has changed, you can count on the NTSB to continue to relentlessly pursue its mission of advancing transportation safety. We will, as always, maintain our legislatively mandated independence and objectivity; conduct objective and thorough accident investigations and safety studies; conduct fair and objective airman and mariner certification appeals; promote the implementation of our safety recommendations; and assist victims of transportation accidents and their families.

All of us here at the NTSB wish former Chairman Hersman the best with her new endeavors to advance safety with the NSC. As for me, I’m looking forward to working with our staff and our many constituencies – industry, regulators, advocacy groups, and the public – to continue making transportation ever safer for everyone.

Reaching ZERO: Highway Safety Lifesavers

Next week, NTSB Member Rosekind, Highway Safety Investigators, and Communications staff will attend the Lifesavers National Conference on Highway Safety Priorities.  Although NTSB Members and staff have previously presented and attended this conference, this will be only the second time that NTSB will have an exhibit, Booth #218.  This gives us an excellent opportunity to highlight our Most Wanted List issue areas, Eliminate Distraction in Transportation, Eliminate Substance-Impaired Driving and Strengthen Occupant Protection in Transportation.

At the NTSB we have set the bar high for highway safety. Our goal is to reach ZERO deaths on our Nation’s roadways. For many, that may seem like an unrealistic or unachievable goal. But the nearly 2,000, highway safety professionals who will meet in Nashville next week know that ZERO deaths on our roadways is achievable, and they make reaching that goal their daily mission.

One of the NTSB’s goals at this year’s conference is to share the lessons we have learned through our accident investigations. We hope that these lessons will lead to changes that will reduce and ultimately eliminate the deaths caused by drivers impaired by drugs and alcohol or distracted by the use of a wireless communication device and to emphasize the importance of a clear, consistent message on the role that seat belt use plays in reaching ZERO! So come check out these NTSB presentations:

Sunday, April 27^th –

4:15pm – 05 vs. 08 – What does the Research Say? – NTSB Safety Advocate Jenny Cheek

Monday, April 28^th –

9:00am – Drugged Driving: What’s Driving the Numbers – NTSB Board Member Mark Rosekind

10:45am – When the Feds Show Up – Managing Communications Following a Major Crash – NTSB Public Affairs Director, Kelly Nantel

10:45am – Reframing Occupant Protection: Strategies to Improve Seat Belt Use – NTSB Safety Advocate Stephanie Davis

2:15pm – Motorcoach Safety: First Ever Comprehensive Regulations to Protect all Riders – Belts are on the Way – NTSB Investigator Michele Beckjord

An overwhelming majority of the 33,000 deaths and more than 2 million injuries that occur on our roadways each year are preventable! So please come find us at Booth #218 to learn more about steps you can take and ways we can work together to make the roads safer for the traveling public.

Preview: Rail Safety Forum, April 22-23

Rail Safety: Transportation of Crude Oil and Ethanol

At the NTSB, our 2014 dawned with a team o finvestigators working the scene of a serious railroad accident near Casselton, North Dakota, where 20 cars of a106-car BNSF Railway train carrying petroleum crudeoil collided with cars from a derailed BNSF grain train. More than 476,000 gallons of crude oil were released in the accident, and a massive fire triggered a voluntary evacuation of 1,400 people from the surrounding area and resulted in millions of dollars in damage.

 The nation’s railroad network is taking on an expanding role as a major channel for the transportation of crude oil and other hazardous products, which could mean that accidents like the one in Casselton will become more common. While soaring volumes of crude oil and ethanol traveling by rail has been good for business, there is a corresponding obligation to protect our communities and our environment. Everyone – industry, regulators, and first responders – must takea comprehensive approach to eliminate or significantly reduce the safety risks. This approach must include improvements to track inspection and maintenance programs and the crashworthiness of the tank cars that transport these materials.

Next Tuesday and Wednesday, April 22 and 23, the NTSB will hold a forum to address rail safety specific to the transportation of crude oil and ethanol. We have invited researchers, crude oil and ethanol shippers, tank car builders, railroad carriers, emergency responders, and federal regulatory agencies to discuss the safety of crude oil and ethanol transportation by railroad, as well as ways to reduce the consequences from accidents involving flammable liquids through tank car design, railroad operations, and emergency preparedness. As the people of Casselton, North Dakota, can attest, we must do everything we can to ensure that transport of crude oil and ethanol by rail is as safe as it can be.

Travelling by Car? Be Sure Your Children Are Safe!

By Dennis Collins

Today is the first day of Spring Break for many of the local Washington, D.C. area school systems, and many families will take advantage of the time off school to take a trip and enjoy the spring weather, particularly after the winter we’ve had! As you head out to visit family or relax, make sure your children are traveling as safely as possible by having them travel in an age-appropriate, properly installed car seat.

Car seats can be confusing; I remember not knowing if I’d done it right when I went to install my first car seat shortly before the birth of my first child. Like all parents and caregivers, I wanted to be sure that my child was as safe as could be. I was confused and unsure, and those instructions were no help at all! Fortunately, my local police department offered free help provided by trained car seat personnel. One of those trained officers showed me how to install my car seat properly, taught me how to make sure my daughter was in the seat correctly, and explained what to do if I needed to move the seat to another vehicle. I left the police station knowing my daughter’s first ever car ride would be as safe as I could make it.

This sparked my interest in Child Passenger Safety; eventually, I took training class to become a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST) and underwent additional training and testing to be certified as a Child Passenger Safety Technician Instructor (CPST-I), enabling me to teach others to become certified technicians. I’ve been certified now for more than ten years and plan to remain certified for many more.

Staying certified is a lot of work. I have to teach, complete continuing education, and install a certain number of seats to stay certified. Why do I do it? Simple – I enjoy helping parents and caregivers do the best they can to keep their children safe. Volunteering as an EMT and my career as an investigator for the NTSB has taught me our roadways and highways can be dangerous and unpredictable. Weather, road conditions, and distracted, tired, and impaired drivers can result in our being involved in an accident through no fault of our own. I’ve seen the consequences of improperly restrained or unrestrained children and can tell you it’s far better to prevent an injury or reduce its severity than to try to fix it after it happens.

So, as you head out this week to have fun or relax, take a second to look at how your children ride in the car. Be sure they’re in the correct seat for their age and that the seat is installed correctly. If you’re not sure, need help, or just want someone to double-check, there are CPSTs and CPST-Is standing ready to help. Call your local police and/or fire department or visit safercar.gov to find a technician or inspection station near you. Travel safe!

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Dennis Collins is a Senior Accident Investigator in the NTSB’s Office of highway Safety and a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician Instructor.

Accident Response is Part of Prevention

By Christopher A. Hart

Last month, the NTSB launched a team to investigate a gas explosion and subsequent fire in New York City. It often surprises people that pipelines are one of the transportation modes covered in our statutory authority. What might surprise people even more is that 2.5 million miles of pipeline crisscrosses the nation – enough to travel around the earth 100 times – and they present a unique challenge because they are most often underground. But if something goes wrong, it can be very dramatic, such as with the December 2012 natural gas pipeline rupture near Sissonville, West Virginia; and they can be deadly, such as in the September 2010 natural gas pipeline rupture in San Bruno, California.

When it comes to enhancing pipeline safety, the ultimate goal for any pipeline operator should be to prevent a pipeline rupture. The next goal should be to make sure that lessons learned from such accidents are applied throughout the industry to keep them from happening again. Last month, the NTSB reviewed steps taken by the pipeline operator, Enbridge Energy (“Enbridge”), in response to its July 2010 crude oil pipeline rupture in Marshall, Michigan, and closed three of our safety recommendations addressing pipeline control center staff training, first responder training, and response plans.

As a result of the Marshall pipeline rupture, almost 850,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into the surrounding wetlands and flowed into local waterways, resulting in by far the most expensive environmental clean-up for an onshore oil spill in the U.S. The release entered Talmadge Creek and flowed into the Kalamazoo River; heavy rain caused the river to flow over existing dams and carried oil 35 miles downstream. County health agencies closed public access to 39 miles of the river system to protect public health and safety during the cleanup. The lives of local residents were disrupted or changed forever, and the impact on natural resources and wildlife was substantial. Our investigation of the Marshall rupture revealed gaps in Enbridge’s training and preparations for responding to spills in all environmental conditions. For example, we found that Enbridge’s response was hampered by inadequate resources on site, lack of spill response organizations under contract near Marshall, and the use of spill response equipment that was inappropriate for the environment and weather conditions.

Since we issued our report and recommendations in July 2012, Enbridge has taken steps to improve its steps for responding to emergencies. Enbridge developed and implemented semiannual training for its control center staff that includes the theory and practice of decisionmaking in the event of an emergency, tools for effective communication, leadership and team building, and situation awareness and workload management. Enbridge also updated its first responder training curricula with tabletop and practical exercises, completed the training of first responders, and will provide them refresher training. In addition, an independent expert completed a systemwide emergency response capability assessment for Enbridge, which subsequently developed an incident action plan, emergency response handbooks, and other guidance to support the regional emergency response teams.

These lessons, however, go beyond Enbridge. Most pipelines function properly most of the time. First responders need to prepare more effectively for those (fortunately rare) times when something goes wrong.

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Christopher A. Hart was sworn in as a Member of the NTSB on August 12, 2009 and designated by the President for a two-year term as Vice Chairman of the Board on August 18. Member Hart joined the Board after a long career in transportation safety, including a previous term as a Member of the NTSB.