A Union Pacific Railroad contractor employee was fatally injured by a suspended load of steel grating he was moving with a roadway maintenance machine (crane) near a Castroville site. The employee with W.T. Byler Company was performing bridge work for the Union Pacific Railroad Company when the incident occurred on September 22.
A Union Pacific Railroad contractor employee was struck and fatally injured on a construction site near Castroville. An employee with W.T. Byler Company was performing bridge work for the Union Pacific Railroad Company when the incident occurred on September 22.
In a news release on November 10, officials announced that preliminary information indicates the employee was operating the crane with three spans of steel grating measuring approximately 20 feet long by three feet wide, and weighing about 2,200 pounds. He was moving it westward from an open deck bridge to a material staging area, according to the release from Union Pacific.
The foreman in charge of the site made several attempts to contact the employee by radio, the release notes. After about five minutes with no response, the foreman walked to the location where the employee was operating. The employee was found unresponsive still seated in the equipment, the release noted.
No other employees were near the track area, and no other employees witnessed the accident, the release noted.
While on scene, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducted track inspections, inspected and measured the steel grating material, collected accident documentation from UP and WT Byler, and conducted interviews.
The NTSB investigation is ongoing.
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Priscilla Aguirre is a general assignment reporter for MySA.com | priscilla.aguirre@express-news.net | @CillaAguirre.