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Sadly, its one of CN’s rules that an employee must remain outside and standing on the front of the locomotive when it is pulling back. No matter what the weather! We used to be allowed to stay in the warm cabs on bitterly cold days, but under HH that came to an end.
Pulling back? Sounds contradictory… If moving forward why does the employee have to be outside the cab?
Brad, pulling back is referring to switching. When you’re running Beltpack and pulling out a cut of cars for example and you’ll be coming close to the end of the pullback protection zone (PPZ) it’s CN rule that you must have a crew member on the point to protect the movement. Same goes for if you will need to extend passed the end of your PPZ.
Also when running Beltpack CN’s rule is that we cannot operate the equipment from inside the cab, we must be on the outside of the train when it is moving. Now, does everyone follow this rule? No, definitely not. But I know personally I don’t want to be caught, it’s a foolish thing to accumulate demerits for.
Thanks for giving the explanation Hunter, I was just about to reply. Sadly at Mac Yard, they make the employee stay outside when pulling or pushing,and of course they have to have 3 point contact at all times. Luckily I have 35 yrs on and have been an engineer since the mid 80′s, but everytime I see guys out there in all kinds of weather it just makes me angry and there is no need for them to be outside like that the whole shift.
I hear those HH inspections can be pretty brutal. A friend of mine just got dinged a 10 day suspension, possibly points, at Vaughan for wearing his shades on top of his head and his vest open.
Well thankfully HH is gone but some of his ridiculous edicts live on. Everyone does get what the company calls “efficiency tests” which can be anything from having your vests done up to safety goggles, radio communication on and they even go as far as to turn off hotbox detectors to see if crews are paying attention to the readouts after they pass over them.