WASHINGTON — A contract employee working with a Norfolk Southern track gang was standing between the rails when he was struck and killed by a piece of maintenance-of-way equipment in a December 2021 accident in Pennsylvania, according to a preliminary report released this week by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The accident occurred Dec. 8, 2021 at approximately 11:20 a.m. in Reed, Pa., about 15 miles north-northwest of Harrisburg on the NS Buffalo Line. The victim, an employee of National Salvage and Service Corp., was marking rail to be removed by the NS work crew when he was struck by a spike machine which had reversed direction. The operator said he did not see the employee behind his machine before beginning his reverse move or during that movement.
The victim was subsequently identified as 27-year-old Kolton Parker Helbert of Kingsport, Tenn. [see “Tennessee man killed at NS project in Pennsylvania,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 16 2021].
The ongoing investigation will look at equipment, training requirements, worker safety, and regulatory compliance, according to the preliminary report.
It was likely a contracted Material Handling Truck operator assigned to clean up behind the gang. It also sounds like he may have been doing a job normally assigned to a NS gang foreman or supervisor when marking the rail.