Killed BART workers had backs turned to oncoming train

Killed BART workers had backs turned to oncoming train
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/BART-workers-had-backs-turned-to-o...
Henry K. Lee
Updated 5:52 pm, Monday, December 16, 2013

A police officer marks evidence as he and other officers investigate an accident scene where a BART train struck two people, neither of which survived, October 19, 2013 in Walnut Creek, Calif. Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle

Neither of the two BART workers who were struck and killed by a train while working on the tracks near Walnut Creek was acting as a lookout for oncoming trains, according to autopsy reports by the Contra Costa County coroner's office.

Under BART policy at the time, one of the two workers - Christopher Sheppard, 58, of Hayward and Laurence Daniels, 66, of Fair Oaks (Sacramento County) - was required to serve as a spotter able to see a train 15 seconds before it arrives.

But it "appears neither was acting as a lookout for oncoming trains" before both were struck and killed Oct. 19 while checking on a reported dip in the tracks between the Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill/Contra Costa Centre stations, coroner's Deputy Kevin Hoffman wrote in his investigative reports.

"It is believed that (the victims) both had their backs to the oncoming train," a four-car train traveling north on the tracks, Hoffman wrote.

Sheppard, a BART track engineer, and Daniels, a contract employee, both died of blunt-force injuries due to being hit by a train, forensic pathologist Arnold Josselson wrote. Neither had drugs or alcohol in his system.

Their deaths were classified as the result of an accident, which happened about 45 minutes after they began inspecting the tracks.

The train was traveling 60 to 70 mph and was being operated during the BART strike by a manager undergoing training to take over driver duties in the event of an extended walkout, federal investigators said. The train stopped 1,070 feet after hitting the two men, the coroner's reports found.

BART spokesman Jim Allison declined to comment Monday, citing an ongoing investigation into the incident by the National Transportation Safety Board.

For three decades, BART officials have insisted that workers doing routine track maintenance be solely responsible for their safety, and the agency would not slow down trains traveling through their work areas.

The practice, in which workers were given no warning of oncoming trains, was linked to BART track worker deaths in 2001 and 2008. After the second death, BART modified the policy to require that one member of a work crew serve as a spotter.

Days after Sheppard and Daniels were killed, BART suspended the practice, which it called "simple approval."

BART train operators now have to slow down through job sites. In some cases, they must halt trains until work is complete, or reroute them around work areas via single-tracking. BART also said it would take another look at computer devices that warn workers of oncoming trains.

Henry K. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.comTwitter: @henryklee