A worker at Colonna’s Shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia (VA), suffered injuries requiring hospital treatment when the backhoe he was driving got hit by a small Norfolk Southern locomotive. According to WAVY-TV 10, the collision occurred at a marked but uncontrolled grade crossing inside the work zone, and no railroad employees suffered injuries.
The crossing does not have gates or warning lights, which is common in private rail yards like those incorporated into the physical plants of factories, warehouses, shipyards and ports. Leaving the crossings open makes sense from a business standpoint. Bringing vehicle and equipment traffic to a complete halt multiple times each day every time a train engine or set of railcars moves would seriously hamper workflow and productivity.
That focus on the bottom line, however, leaves both company employees and train crew members at constant risk for accidents like the one that happened at Colonna’s on the afternoon of February 5, 2015. As a personal injury and wrongful death attorney who has specialized in helping victims of rail accidents since the mid-1980s, I’ve seen several incidents like this one. One of the worst, and most deadly, involved a van transporting a BNSF crew through a rail yard in Washington state. A breakdown in communications regarding where trains were in use and what route the van should take appears to have contributed to that tragedy.
Stopping a locomotive takes time, even when it is relative small and moving slowly. When physically keeping people and vehicles out of a train’s way proves impractical, the solution to avoiding collisions lies in keeping communications open between the crew on board — typically only one engineer or conductor — and the people on the ground. Spotters and dispatchers have major roles to play in this.
I hope the injured shipyard worker recovers quickly and fully. Even more, I hope the problems that led to the accident in which he got hurt are identified and corrected.
EJL
Rick Shapiro has practiced personal injury law for over 30 years in Virginia, North Carolina, and throughout the Southeastern United States. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (ABA Accredited) and has litigated injury cases throughout the eastern United States, including wrongful death, trucking, faulty products, railroad, and medical negligence claims. During his three-decade career, Shapiro has won client appeals before the VA Supreme Court, VA Court of Appeals, NC Supreme Court, SC Supreme Court, WV Supreme Court, TN Supreme Court, and three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, underscoring Shapiro’s trial achievements. In addition, he and his law firm have won settlements/verdicts in excess of $100 million. His success in and out of the courtroom is a big reason why he was named 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in railroad law in U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers publication (Norfolk, VA area), and he has been named a “Best Lawyer” and “Super Lawyer” by those peer-reviewed organizations for multiple years. Rick was also named a “Leader in the Law, Class of 2022” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (total of 33 statewide honorees consisting of lawyers and judges across Virginia). And in September 2023, Rick was selected as a recipient of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) 2023 President’s Award. Although many nominations were submitted from across the country, Rick was just one of eight attorneys chosen by the prestigious National Board which certifies civil trial attorneys across the U.S. Rick was also recently named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2024 Virginia’s Go To Lawyers Medical Malpractice. The attorneys awarded this honor are nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from the publication.
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