Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1793595.015 - Dakota Midland Grain, Llc

Inspection Information - Office: Bismarck Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 6:45 p.m. on December 13, 2024, an employee working as a laborer for a grain wholesale supplier was opening lids on top of rail cars prior to loading. The employee stepped from the catwalk onto the railcars while they were stationary. He was standing on top of one of the railcars with a self-retracting lifeline (SRL) hooked to his harness on one end and the anchor on the trolley on the other. The employee instructed a coworker operating the locomotive to move East to position the car under a spout. The trolley hit the spout and stopped it from moving East horizontally. The employee was still standing on top when it was moving and he continued travelling Eastward with the railcars. The lifeline in his SRL began to pull out and when it reached the end causing the employee to be dragged along the top of the railcars. The employee fell into a gap between the railcars as he was being dragged. Initially, the employee hit a railcar from behind and bounced back up onto the top of the railcars. But the second time, the force of the impact with the railcar from behind was too much and it snapped the lifeline. The employee fell between the railcars to the ground below underneath the moving railcars. The employee died from multiple injuries including trauma to his abdomen.

Keywords: Abdomen, Blunt force, Blunt force trauma, Catwalk, Crushed, Engineering Controls, Fall, Fall From Elevation, Fall Protection, Grain, Harness, Laborer, Laceration, Lack of Engineering Controls, Lifeline, Loading, Locomotive, Material Handling, Rail, Railroad Car, Railroad Tank Car, Railroad Track, Run Over, Struck Against, Struck By, Train