Fresh Calls for Rail Collision-Avoidance Tech

The National Transportation Safety Board is again calling on railroads to equip roadway maintenance machines with collision-avoidance technology.
The latest recommendation comes after the agency investigated a fatal 2023 crash in Ohio that left six people dead and more than 40 injured.
According to the NTSB’s September 24 report, the truck lacked key advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) such as Forward Collision Warning (FCW); Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB); and, Adaptive Cruise Control.
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The vacancy rate for North Carolina Compliance Safety and Health Officers (CSHOs) has dropped below 10%, the lowest level in over a decade.
Filling vacancies was a campaign issue in last November’s Labor Commissioner’s race.
When newly elected commissioner Luke Farley took office in January 2025, the CSHO vacancy rate stood above 20%.
“This is more than a hiring win — it’s a safety win,” Farley said at the announcement of the improvement. “Every inspector we add means faster response times, more site visits, and safer working conditions for the people who provide for their families and power North Carolina’s economy.”
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Employers should anticipate potential shifts in compliance expectations and reporting obligations as these leadership transitions take effect.
With the recent Senate confirmation of David Keeling to lead OSHA, the agency is expected to shift toward deregulation and tailored compliance burdens for employers, said attorney Karl Kumli, writing on Jackson Lewis’s OSHA Law Blog.
“Anticipated changes include potentially rolling back electronic injury reporting requirements, ending the public release of workplace injury data, and possibly scrapping or revising the proposed national heat illness prevention standard, which critics say is overly rigid for the sheer scope of workplaces it seeks to regulate.”
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Michigan officials have now confirmed that the number of workplace fatalities in 2025 to date, 34 as of last week, exceeded last year’s 31 fatalities recorded.
Between 2024 and 2021, the state averaged 43 on-the-job fatalities per year, with the highest of 75 logged in 2020, and the lowest of 27 reported in 2012, the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration said.
The latest national data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses data for 2024, is scheduled to be released Nov. 19.
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Morgan McGarvey, the lone congressional Democrat from Kentucky, says that while President Donald Trump and Hill Republicans are focused on reviving coal, he’s focused on miner health and safety.
McGarvey’s past legislative efforts — including the “Relief for Survivors of Miners Act,” which he has led, and the “Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act,” which he co-sponsored — aimed to strengthen benefits for miners suffering from debilitating diseases tied to years in the mines.
He plans to reintroduce the survivors of miners bill this Congress.
On Tuesday, dozens of miners and their families staged a protest outside Washington’s Labor Department building arguing the Trump Administration has failed to protect them from black lung disease.
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