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Ohio Train Wreck: Who are these people?
Now that we’ve thought a little about the East Palestine Ohio Train Wreck, it’s time to look at some of the people involved. We’ve already thought a bit about the hard working train crew that was operating the equipment. We’ve also thought about the yard crew that was putting the train together.
Now we’re going to consider the people on the ground, at or immediately after the wreck.
Decisions are made by people, and not AI. They have baggage, and conflicting interests. There are different levels of experience, and different perspectives.
Who am I to be telling you about this?
Well, just as a reminder, I was a little kid in and around one of these railroad towns, have a family history in the railroad industry. Also, I’ve spent a few decades now in and around chemicals of one kind or another, including bulk shipments.
And, I’ve audited the quality systems of operations that produce and ship the most dangerous things you can possibly imagine.
Here’s a link to the previous article:
East Palestine Ohio
Let’s start with this cold, dark, railroad town.
This place is so stereotypical of the post-industrial, post-agricultural small town that it was selected as a movie set about the topic.
The 2022 film “White Noise” included some of the townspeople as extras in a film about a big railroad disaster.
This is a funny little railroad town of the type that reached its maximum population in 1970, and has been in steady stagnation ever since.
It’s too small for their own Wal Mart, but there are two Dollar Generals. We usually can figure out what a town is about by counting the vape shops and dialysis places vs. the number of art galleries, but let’s say that our preliminary search is heavily on the side of the vape shops.
The median income is $38K a year, and it’s 98% white, for what that is worth. The little towns in the south like this have a bit of racial tension as well. The median income in the nation as of 2020 was about $73K.
This may or may not have made a difference in some of the decision making process, as the disaster unfolded. I am thinking about the evacuation decision, as well as the decision to do a “controlled burn” of one or more of the railroad cars full of vinyl chloride that was about to blow up.
It was a rough year for the football team, by the way, they were 1-8. The little town pecking order in this part of the country is heavily influenced by what kind of football team they have.
The Town Cop
Let’s start with the Chief of Police, who is linked below.
When the first call went out, it probably went to him. He was promoted to his job in 2017. He started as a part time small town cop in 1996, and over a period of time, worked himself up to being Chief.
It’s a bit different in the North, but small town cops in the south have in their experience “The Andy Griffith Show” from classic American TV. They imagine themselves to be like Andy, who is a revered figure in the community, but are always in danger of being Barney, who is a bumbling sideshow character.
The main job of a small town cop in one of these places is to pull people out of the ditch that had too much to drink on Saturday night, and/or keep the local drug dealers below a controllable level.
There is nothing in the article linked below that suggests he paid attention in chemistry class. Let’s say, for the sake of fiction, that he balanced congeniality and competence, and sufficiently navigated small town politics.
The Fire Chief
Let’s say that the second call went out to the Fire Chief who also doubles as the Emergency Management person.
This fellow has a degree in Fire Services Administration and a master’s degree in Public Administration from Columbia Southern University, which is in the lovely town of Orange Beach Alabama.
He was with the Horry County SC fire department for 12 years and prior to that, had a stint in the Air Force. Despite the cold, he probably welcomed the small town culture. He is originally from Darlington PA.
Let’s go out on a limb and say that he is serious. He has seen a bit of chaos in his lifetime.
There is an investigation still going on about who authorized what at what time. The picture we are painting at the moment is of the first few hours of the disaster. The Chief, here, is thought to have eventually authorized the “controlled release.” He may have had a chemistry class or two, and/or some hazardous materials experience. Maybe not. Another article says the railroad did it.
The fire department in East Palestine was fairly exhausted after all of this happened. By the way, they were the first to arrive and last to leave. Was this “heroic?” You, the reader may decide.
Horry County, by the way, is where Myrtle Beach is, and has a fairly big fire department. Let’s say our fellow here was frustrated about his lack of upward mobility. He correctly took it on himself to get some more education. He “upgraded” to East Palestine, which is close to his old hometown.
Does the part of him get played by Ben Affleck? Nah, you’d have to say not.
The Trainmaster
The trainmaster is the guy who picks up the phone when his frantic dispatcher says “there’s a train out of control.”
There are no educational requirements, but you do have to have some tolerance for chaos. I’ve linked the job description below.
First of all, the trainmaster is responsible for scheduling the crews. He heeps them legal from a consecutive hour standpoint, and keeps everything on time, you hope. It’s stressful because the world is chaotic. It also helps to have experience as a locomotive operator, because you also need to investigate accidents like this one. You, the trainmaster, will have help in this case because it has hit the headlines.
This guy probably lives where the nearest big yard is. So, let’s say he was at the end of the line, a half hour later on in the trip at the terminating point in PA.
It takes him awhile to get to the scene, but even so, he is the first investigator to arrive while the thing is an inferno.
The Roadmaster
This is the railroad employee who is responsible for rebuilding the track. When there’s a wreck, he is the second one who gets the call.
He bundles up, as he goes out the door at 9:30 PM on a cold February night. Maybe is also at the end of the line in PA but it depends on how the line is divided. He may be in New Salem.
I know this fellow fairly well. He could pretty easily be my grandfather. Long time railroad employee. Started with the Union and now working for management. Very familiar with the whole line, lived in most of the little towns at one point or another throughout the last 40 years. Disinclined to put up with bullshit. I am in the lower right.
He also is suspicious of people with an education. His, boss, the Division Engineer, is on him all the time to keep costs under control, but at the same time, do proper maintenance on the track and maintain safety. Track maintenance is a significant expense for these railroads, particularly on the main line like this. You know what’s bad? Issuing a “slow order” because of some defect that makes the track unsafe at full speed. That slows everything down and is a stopgap rather than spending money to take the track down and fix it.
So the Roadmaster is always catching crap from the Division Engineer for spending too much money, and also from the Trainmaster if the track is taken down for repairs.
Conflicting Interests
On the side of the railroad, there is a third source of crap. This would be the division management and Vice President. He knows that if the trains don’t run, they don’t get to make money. So, the Roadmaster is right in the middle of conflicting interests.
To make matters more interesting, there is a Federal Railway Administration inspector. He will also arrive on the scene shortly. The FRA guy is quite often also a veteran former railroad employee. Firstly, he knows where all of the skeletons are buried. But, being a Federal employee, he also is responsible for keeping this whole system in some kind of balance.
So, not just anybody would tolerate this job. PS: He didn’t make it past 9th grade, so he didn’t have chemistry class. In a situation like this, he waits to call the crew in to start repairs, since the Train Department needs to clear the track.
The Chemical Plant Safety Spokesperson.
Here’s the first guy in the situation that paid attention in Chemistry class.
First, we have to link up the Safety Data Sheet for vinyl chloride. This particular one is from Airgas Inc.
https://www.airgas.com/msds/001067.pdf
The exact manufacturer of the vinyl chloride in the cars is fairly important, because there is a safety data sheet produced by that company.
On this safety data sheet it says the following:
No action shall be taken involving any personal risk or without suitable training. If it is
Airgas Safety Data Sheet
suspected that fumes are still present, the rescuer should wear an appropriate mask or
self-contained breathing apparatus.
And, it also says:
Promptly isolate the scene by removing all persons from the vicinity of the incident if
there is a fire. No action shall be taken involving any personal risk or without suitable
training. Contact supplier immediately for specialist advice. Move containers from fire
area if this can be done without risk. Use water spray to keep fire-exposed containers
cool. If involved in fire, shut off flow immediately if it can be done without risk. If this is
impossible, withdraw from area and allow fire to burn. Fight fire from protected location
or maximum possible distance. Eliminate all ignition sources if safe to do so
Airgas SDS
So what, exactly, does it mean to be “trained” on this topic? What this is, is an inoculation against a lawsuit. Someone does something stupid, the producer says “sorry, we clearly stated that only trained personnel should be messing with this stuff, not our fault.”
For a “large spill” it says to do this:
Immediately contact emergency personnel. Stop leak if without risk. Use spark-proof
Airgas SDS
tools and explosion-proof equipment. Note: see Section 1 for emergency contact
information and Section 13 for waste disposal.
Who Picks Up the Phone?
So now, if you call the 800 number, at 9 PM on a cold, dark night in February in a little Ohio town that might or might not have Scuba gear, who exactly picks up the phone? Actually let’s say it took you awhile to figure out who the correct supplier is, and find the 800 number. It’s now 1AM, there is a huge fire, and you, the fire chief, make the call.
There is an 800 number for the plant, and an 866 number for the 24-hour contact.
So the first question is, do they pick up the phone?
Once they do, who answers. If it’s midnight, the most likely person is the plant superintendent. Most of the time this is a management level employee that knows a lot about how to make the product, but no experience at all in disasters.
Is he or she supposed to be trained in this? No, he or she is an experienced plant employee but gets paid a lot not to spill it. The likely first reaction is to call the plant safety manager.
In the meantime, the fire continues to burn.
The plant safety manager is called at 1 AM. Does he or she pick up the phone? Let’s say, hypothetically that he or she does. But they are not trained on this type of disaster either. It specifically says on the SDS not to mess with this stuff unless you are trained.
So now, you have to talk to some kind of corporate level safety person, which there probably is one. Does he or she answer the phone? Possibly.
This person paid attention in Chemistry Class.
This may finally be someone who is helpful.
They may have had experience in dealing with a mass gas leak of vinyl chloride.
There was a spillage of this stuff into a creek in New Jersey in 2012.
This story indicated that although terrible, no one died in that incident, although 20 people went to the hospital with breathing problems. What eventually happened was that the material diffused in the air (and water) and life sort of went on. But, that is New Jersey.
The best idea at the time was to close the windows and keep away from it. A charcoal filter will take it out of the water.
This article in “Industrial Safety and Health News” says that over 700 people were eventually evacuated. The major problem was that the local fire department didn’t have SCUBA equipment, and a lot of the first responders were severely affected.
What do you tell the Chief?
So what do you tell the poor fire chief? Are you, the corporate safety person, qualified to tell anybody what to do with a million pounds of burning vinyl chloride? Of course not. Nobody is. Actually there were several other cars wrecked at the same time, with other chemicals, so the problem was actually more complicated than that. There are multiple phone calls, and multiple safety officials.
So you tell the chief to get his people away from it, and stand back. But the chief is correctly afraid that since the whole thing is under pressure, it’s going to blow up. He probably didn’t know about the previous leak, although the corporate safety person may be aware of what happened.
He may or may not be aware of the other industrial disasters of history, and what the ramifications are. That may be worthy of another post. No two disasters are exactly alike.
Politicians, News People and Talking Heads
By dawn the next day, the politicians come out of the woodwork. The head of the Ohio EPA is on the news. The Governor has a press conference. There are helicopters overhead.
Who is in charge? Does the Chief get out his copy of the National Incident Management System quick reference? (I have linked it below) It tells you how to set up a command center to coordinate the response team.
Since he is trained in all of this, he should have had time to do a little incident planning exercise, and have figured out where to have this, and who is in charge ahead of time. Maybe by this time, with the fire still burning, he can address this. But in the meantime, he has bigger fish to fry. He is afraid his town is going to blow up.
By the afternoon, there are 75 jurisdictions, and there needs to be some decision coordination.
Decision Making Authority
The guidelines call for an “incident commander.” But, it doesn’t say exactly who in the hell that is. Come to find out, there is an “incident commander” job description. The Type IV incident commander is for a complex situation, like this one, with multiple resources and jurisdictions. Is it the same as a hurricane “incident commander”? Anyway our guy the Chief does not have time to ask a lot of questions. He coordinates the multiple fire departments and others, and because he is the local, the visiting emergency people defer to him temporarily.
It is not completely clear who the hell the “incident commander” is, exactly, except to say the first person on the scene with some authority has the responsibility to make the short term decisions. That would be the chief.
At some point does incident command pass to a talking head or a politician? A very creative movie script can be written about this conversation, especially in this cases.
Let’s say hypothetically that since Red Adair, the Patron Saint of Incident Response is not around anymore there may be a lively discussion on this topic.
The Amorphous They
At some point, this person enters. The Amorphous They is a person with authority, but no accountability. We talked about the Amorphous They in a couple of these videos.
An airline pilot has both Authority and Accountability. Once he gets in the air, he is responsible for doing his job, and accountable for not doing it, 100%. He is licensed by the government for his ability to do this.
The guy at the window at your fast food place has accountability, but no authority. If the order is screwed up he is the one that catches hell. He is the most customer facing member of the system.
In a factory, a machine operator has minimal authority, and some, but not a lot, of accountability. If he screws up a part or two, nothing bad happens usually. But this is not usually your highly motivated employee.
The plant manager of the same factory has more authority, and also more accountability. If some product gets out the door that is defective, he or she is accountable. He or she also has the authority to do something about it.
The Amorphous They may be some knowledgeable technical expert, or other person, that sits at the edge of the room. His, or hers, is that voice that says “Chief, you have to vent that rail car.”
He or she has authority, but no accountability. This is like a white-collar criminal or a supervillain.
“They” thought it was a good idea at the time.
So that’s how the “Amorphous They” works. The idea is thrown out. Several people in the room may have thought it at the same time, but only one says it aloud. No one is completely sure who said it.
When the story is told to a jury, later on, it’s something like “Yeah, “they” thought it was a good idea to vent the rail cars to ambient to prevent an explosion, even though it may have caused a fish kill and multiple cases of lung irritation.”
When the story is told later on, no one can remember exactly who “they” were that had the idea. That way, sometimes, it’s hard to determine who should be held accountable if the decision blows up literally in someone’s face.
The “Amorphous They” make decisions all the time. There may be a cross-functional task force. There may be team meetings and donuts. “They” are making decisions based on one set of values, which may or may not be the openly stated values of the organization, such as it is.
So that’s what happened.
The Aftermath
On February 6th, after some confusion about whether or not to evacuate the nearby area, “officials” made the decision to vent the remaining cars.
In this case “officials” would be the “Amorphous They.”
The Wikipedia article, linked below, says that the cars were ‘vented” by “railroad personnel” using shape charges.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/timeline-east-palestine-ohio-train-derailment-chemicals-evacuations/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Ohio_train_derailment
Do you want that job?
Once the material was “vented” and all of the fires were out, the cleanup could begin. There is ongoing disagreement on who is going to take the 1900 feet of contaminated railroad ballast, and all of that surrounding contaminated dirt. The Roadmaster will start rebuilding the track soon enough. It only took him a week to get the track to the point where the trains could run, and then he ended up tearing it out again because the EPA wanted to remove the contaminated soil.
Job security.
The Movie Scene
So do you want to write the movie scene on this? The wreck has burned for 3 days, controllably. You’ve had multiple conflicting orders on whether or not to evacuate the area. People are on the news whining about how they’ve been exposed to toxins. The situation is tense.
No one has died yet. 45000 “animals” died, but they were fish. Maybe some of the local dogs and cats tragically passed away but there are no reports of mass livestock deaths.
Do you know or agree on who is in charge of the response team? We know at first, it was the Chief, but now, 3 days later, there may be lack of alignment.
“Officials” now make the decision to vent the cars, helped out by the Amorphous They. “They” made the decision. It was done somehow, and now, six weeks later, the pieces are being picked up. It’s up to the Roadmaster to figure it out.
Multiple lawsuits have already been filed. But, “They” won’t be asked to take the stand. It’ll be your hard working small town Fire Chief that will be on the stand.
More Wrecks
Oh, yeah. Since the time of this incident there have also been more wrecks on the Norfolk Southern line. This has the conspiracy theorists up in arms, but the reality is, there are more than 1000 train wrecks a year, and they don’t always make the global news.
But, like we said earlier, they are going to make the legal system because a clever laywer for the plaintiff will say “see, these people don’t know how to safely run a railroad.”
Links and References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Palestine,_Ohio
https://www.maxpreps.com/oh/east-palestine/east-palestine-bulldogs/football/
Police Department
https://theohiostar.com/tag/fire-chief-keith-drabick/
https://theohiostar.com/tag/fire-chief-keith-drabick/
https://work.chron.com/railroad-trainmaster-20446.html
https://work.chron.com/railroad-trainmaster-20446.html
STAT news
NIMS Guidelines
https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_eoc-quick-reference-guide.pdf
Incident Commander
https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_incident-commander_draft-nqs-job-title.pdf
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/02/15/ohio-train-derailment-toxic-chemicals/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64749041
