What are some of the policies and procedures that tourist railroads have implemented to handle emergencies regarding guests and volunteers? When an emergency happens, what are some of the dos and don'ts to best respond to the situation as well as protect the railroad from liability?

The question is a bit selfish in nature as I am trying to devise policies for the J&LNG, but also to spark a broader discussion about a topic that we should all be paying a lot of attention to.

I believe it is of upmost importance to get the guest out of immediate danger. Whatever the situation. Fully stocked first aid kits should be readily available in every single occupied car. Fire extinguishers should be available as well.

I don’t believe there is any “one size fits all” procedure. But the guest/guests should be tended to immediately and professionally. Having expired first aid kits and fire extinguishers is a for sure why to find yourself in a lawsuit situation.

Emergency escape routes should be planned. Certain crew members should be practiced in how to go about this. I envision sort of like a preflight explanation, but obviously trains stay on the ground so maybe that isn’t as important.

I am just rattling off a few different ideas, as I am a mechanic, I don’t deal with tourists anymore.

One of the first things we did was put in the timetable who has jurisdiction and where, and what the non-emergency phone numbers are. Our line runs through 2 counties, one city, one village and 3 townships.

I worked with HRA several years ago to develop boiler plate Passenger Train Emergency Preparedness Plans for both larger tourist operations as well as the smaller ones. They have one of these available on their website, not sure which one. I can provide either if needed.

Regarding preparedness outside of the train itself, I suggest using the OSHA emergency plans as a standard. I developed one for the CO RR Museum. They key for both these is to not develop the plan and then throw them on a shelf. They need to be reviewed and exercised on a regular basis along with minimal training for the to be effective when needed.

PM me if you would like to discuss further.

Mike Ramsey

Every place is different. One thing that worked when I was at Texas State RR was taking injured employees to the ER ourselves, rather than calling the ambulance. If the guy had an injury that didn't immediately require attention before he could be moved, we could get him to the hospital in about the same time it took EMS to get a ride to us. Just be sure that everybody knows where to go in case of trouble, and leave the keys in one of your vehicles with that in mind.

As a retired nurse who just went back into the fire I had to renew my CPR card. This included the whole class all over again. I think half of the emergencies on a train may be health related rather than accidents. Bee stings, heart attack or stroke. Maybe a diabetic bottoming out? Can't expect your crews to all be paramedics or nurses, but it is a good idea to take the suggestions already mentioned. You 911 or non emergency numbers should be posted. People tend to freeze up during emergencies so the practice on what to do, who is going to make the call to 911 and someone with some training to stay with the person in need. To keep the people back so you got some room. You don't need hysterical people who mean well to get in the way of emergency protocol. It is hard to keep it together when an emergency comes up so the buddy system and practice of crew members is important. Shouldn't take to long, your not teaching what to do as far as treatment, as much as how to react, who to call and if needed CPR training might be optional. Actually CPR/1st aid is a good training for anybody as an emergency can come up anywhere at anytime. The little time to train {no pun} can be worth a lot if you find yourself standing there and nobody else steps up to the plate. It is a horrible feeling to stand by and do nothing because you don't know what to do. At home or at the RR.

For an operation where your miles or hours from emergency response people like ambulance it might be good to put a defibrillator on the train and no how to use that too. That is taught in CPR and those things can really help save a "cardiac situation" till help arrives. Some non profit organizations try to outfit businesses with them I think. If your lucky probably not cheap. Regards, John.

Some other thoughts (in no particular order of importance):

* Invite your local responders to visit your site to show them the best access and provide suggestions to you.

* Have designated spokespersons for the organization for talking with the media. Individual volunteers/employees should not discuss the incident with the public (or in front of the public).

* Individual involved (or witness) volunteers or employees should only talk to officials of the museum/tourist railroad or official government investigators.

* Encourage (or require) attendance at training sessions for emergency/medical/stabilization response classes given by qualified organizations/individuals.

Two factors worthy of consideration:

1) How remote is your operation?
Here in Arizona, we have at least two excursion operations that operate in incredibly remote territory: The Grand Canyon Railway, which ostensibly has the main road to the Grand Canyon National Park paralleling it but at one point is nine dirt-road miles one-way from said road; and the Verde Canyon Railroad, which once it departs from it terminal area is completely inaccessible by vehicle (even helicopter) save for its runaround point which is on a private ranch with locked gates. An then it's dozens of miles to the nearest hospital. I know of other operations with such access issues, among them Cass Scenic RR, the Potomac Eagle operation, etc. (Whereas a couple operations share rights-of-way with an accessible "rail trail" that can double as an emergency access road, with locks that can be opened by first responders--Western Md. Scenic, Northern Central/Steam Into History, etc.)

"Professional" places like the Grand Canyon, state parks like Cass, etc. have all factored details like these into their own emergency response protocols (we hope!), and may be of assistance if you wish to discuss with them.

2) Will you listen to your lawyer, or not?

I had one non-profit I worked with that adopted a completely risk-averse policy that explicitly stated that volunteers and staff were not allowed to render medical or even physical assistance to guests/visitors (yes, the policy literally said outright that they were not even allowed to touch a visitor), regardless of training. Of course, this policy was the creation of the organization's legal counsel.

Never mind that three members were trained EMTs and another a military combat medic. Never mind that several others had certified Red Cross CPR and First Aid training. They were explicitly told they couldn't render assistance of ANY kind, on the advice of their legal counsel.

This inanity led to two of the EMTs quitting the organization, and several others--myself included--signing a letter stating that if/when a medical emergency occurred, we would rip off our badges as an act of official resignation from the group, then render necessary CPR or medical aid, regardless of the organization's protocols. And we also made it plain that if that ever were to happen, we were not rejoining an organization that forced such an act. (I later quit on other related inanity, and some of the "survivors" have said to me that "all the fun has been sucked out" of the organization in question, with many others leaving as well.)

Now, to be fair, there's certainly a vast difference between a City-administrated art museum in a major city, an independent non-profit museum in the country, an annual music or religious festival, and operating trains or preserving wooden buildings in an area where fire and ambulance response times can be measured with a calendar instead of a watch. Adjust your protocols and expectations accordingly.

I sort of doubt that this is paid better than lip service in many cases.
You have GCOR certifications, the FRA guys maybe messing with you, and probably the people in the organization over you playing their games as well for their own little turf wars.
You can't focus on every single thing you have to deal with daily on a tourist/museum line, all with equal importance, especially for volunteers.
I know in my own case, the RR I run on has some hoops for conductors to jump through and one of the things they have to confirm in each case is that the defib device is where it's supposed to be, that everyone knows where that is, and that it's charged. I think they have to go through CPR certs as well.
I have been through the Army combat lifesaver course but that was ages ago and that mostly covered what you think it would. There's thankfully little chance I'll have to recall how to deal with a sucking chest wound on a daily run.
Someone going into a diabetic or epileptic crisis would be far more likely and I never got trained how to handle that stuff.
But at least in our case, we're rarely ever far from any roads I think we have only a mile or so that is nowhere near a grade crossing or adjacent road. Even if we went on the ground with multiple casualties in the center of that, you could land a lifeflight helicopter right next to the tracks.
But being a veteran and working in the insurance field for going on 20 years after that, I realize the most important thing is to keep your head and not spend excess time looking for someone else to handle an emergency. I sort of doubt you can train for that. Heck, a while back my wife and I were leaving a place we'd had lunch at (Red Robin in Olympia near the mall. I'm still ticked at their employees reaction) and an older lady fell off the edge of a curb. Everyone, including the employees, just stood there inside at the windows looking and nobody did a thing. Nobody even called 911. We had her sat up and confirmed she only scraped her knee and only several minutes later did anyone come out asking if we needed help. I shudder at the thought of what could have happened had she bonked her head on the concrete instead.
As they taught me in the army, any action is better than no action.
I'd think in an emergency situation these days, your biggest problem would be to get people to put their [bleep]ing phone down to help. I don't see people springing to action naturally much.

Arkansas has a good Samaritan law, that states you are protected from liability from rendering aid in good faith. I suspect most of the states have a similar law.

A working in date AED. CURRENT first aid training for everyone possible. A well stocked first aid kit, with some real items to deal with real injuries, rail injuries would probably be much closer to major trauma then other places, your typical office first aid kit with band-aids and aspirins seems silly. AED would cover electrical and many heart issues, glucose covers diabetic issues, etc. Having heavy timbers and jacks on hand, how many fire departments are capable of jacking/cribbing rail equipment if needed? If cell coverage is bad, a radio and someone to answer it.

Look at previous illnesses and injuries and deaths in the preservation world, and develop a plan to deal with those.

From my pragmatic experience in a class 1 PSHE (public safety health and the environment) department, communication contingency is key to emergency response. A contingency communication plan, perhaps interoperability with local first responders or other railroads. Maintaining proper comms equipment is important, no baofeng, cheap bubble pack radios, but proper equipment and proper licenses. I set up a local tourist line with some older new old stock Motorola xts 5000 model 1 radios. Single aar channel, eventually I'll help them install a consolettes in the stations so there is direct communication over the entire 7.41 mile line. But I digress, during my class 1 days I would write comm op plans for nsse(national security special events) for the police, these included all the local aar channels dispatch codes, pbx codes, foreign line codes, how to communicate with local state and federal law enforcement, contingency communication plans for different scenarios. Basically cover all the bases and then some. Far too many tourist operations and museums lack a comm system

When I was involved with a tourist railroad, one of the best things we had happen was a series of fires along the ROW started by running the EMD extra hard for a test. It brought out two fire departments, which then opened up the door to an open house, of sorts, for the local police, fire, emt, etc. We gave them all a tour through the locomotives and cars while explaining various parts and procedures. We then opened it up to questions with very positive, and interesting, results. We were able to supply local first responders with requested info and procedures and they supplied us with info and procedures. It was a very positive and beneficial experience. I would refrain from using lineside fires to get in touch with them, though.

One of the things I look for - and it's not unusual to find it....

It doesn't have to be a full-blown emergency, either. One of the bigger holes in the boat, considering what we are doing, is simply an on-the-road incident where the train is disabled due to motive power failure, derailment, tree fall, whatever.

Got another locomotive in runnable condition to get the train out? A way to get the crew back or a second crew? Anybody home at the shop/station/office to get a radio call?

I've come across several operations where they aren't accessible, and it can take HOURS to get a train 'rescued' due to an incident, which may be taken as an adventure or a prelude to an actual on-board emergency beyond grumpy customers. And you don't have to be a little volunteer operation to have this problem, either.

That's a far-more likely situation than a full-blown emergency response, and I'm surprised how many operations really don't have it covered.

You just hit on a very important point that can save a lot of time: what is the most likely danger? The ones you mentioned happen nearly everywhere at some time. You need to know whether there’s reliable cellphone signal all along, and even then radio backup is an excellent idea.

Google Earth would tell you where the nearest roads approach the line, whether or not they cross the tracks and (Street view) whether the road would be usable for getting a repair vehicle, fire truck or ambulance close. If you have a long line, you may want to note where other fire departments are, not just the one nearest the home station. The walk-through is a great idea.

If you’re going to carry a small chainsaw for fallen trees, make sure everybody knows how to use it and the safety gear that must go with it. If you think people will fail to be safe, a regular bow saw is safer and almost as fast.

Knowing where to get a bus or two in a hurry may help, too, be it a school bus or charter company.

Refurbished AEDs cost less than a thousand dollars. Donations are common from large health insurance companies and law firms, so it’s well worth asking. If not, often multiple venues will get together and order to get really good prices. Good first-aid kits are another essential supply someone may give you in exchange for a big public thanks, or if not, there are multiple places and ways to get them. You might want to think of local hazards when you put those together: do you have fire ants, Africanized bees, a lot of poisonous plants or snakes, and so on.

Knowing how to evaluate weather risks in your area can help you decide whether to postpone an event or go on. The most obvious summer problems are severe thunderstorms (wind, hail, flooding, and in some areas tornadoes.) Weather.gov/your zip code will get the local NWS forecast and links to all kinds of details. You can also take a free, less than two-hour SKYWARN class online or in person, and that will tell you a lot about local hazards and give you a chance to ask questions.
If worse comes to worst with the weather but you have people at the venue, you need to know what your safest choices are. More of the country gets tornadoes now and we’re not all used to needing a safe shelter. It’s good to know whether you have what you need or may need to build something suitable.

None of us want to think about this, but we do need to consider criminal emergencies either direct or because a chase comes toward us. Ask the local cops what they suggest. (Many years ago the B&O and Pennsy had to be ready for breakouts from the WV Penitentiary.) FEMA has a lot of good free training videos.

Finally, a good supply of duct tape, paper towels and such never go amiss. A gallon jug with clumping cat litter both picks up and hides human and animal messes, which can prevent further GI mayhem. A small container in a restroom with a few cheap diapers and feminine supplies can defuse other little emergencies.

Adding to Becky's excellent list...

If you run (coal or wood fueled) steam, have plenty of eye wash kits available. These are a lifesaver for passengers (and crew) when the inevitable cinder ends up in the eye. This is (by far) the most common issue we have at the WW&F. We have a few in every first aid kit (on train and in the buildings), in the gift shop, and in the dispatcher's office.

Corollary, know where the nearest walk-in/ER is so you can direct a passenger there if necessary.