Two Canadian National employees were performing switching duties at the company’s yard in Melville, Sask., 150 kilometres east of Regina, on Dec. 22, 2017, when one was fatally injured.The safety board says the two workers, one a designated foreman and the other a helper, were moving rail cars by letting them roll to their intended track without the use of air brakes.
“Team work is critical but, in this occurrence, the foreman and the helper were working in virtual isolation,” Pilon said. Josh Heins said his sister, whom he called Missy, was a genuine, passionate person. And she loved her job with the railway.“She could keep up to all these guys … she put a lot of them to shame actually.”Story continues below advertisementThe safety board said that since the death, CN has reconfigured the track at the Melville yard and prohibited kicking cars uphill.
Fox also highlighted the issue of crew experience. Because of high turnover in the rail industry over the last few years, it’s not uncommon for the two most junior people to be working together at a yard during evening and night shifts, she said.Story continues below advertisement