Cienaga, August 1, 2022
Supervised by the Transportation Department’s industrial safety area, and with a one-hour duration, Drummond Ltd. led a level III emergency simulation, without any complications, with the participation of Ferrocarriles del Norte de Colombia (FENOCO) and Colombian Natural Resources (CNR). The objective of the simulation was to evaluate the capacity to respond to an emergency situation in the form of a possible train accident.
The simulated accident was a worker experiencing a heart attack at milepost PK936 on the national railroad, between the Toribio River Bridge and Punto Libre. The simulation analyzed response times and reaction times for the rescue units and for the leaders of the emergency, and verified the effectiveness of communications, logistics, and resource implementation for medical attention to accidents.
“The exercise at CNR’s grade crossing was very useful. Everything was done correctly. Among the things to correct, I think there are things that would be good to know, so we know how to proceed in the case of a real event,” stated Jesus Vizcaino, CNR Engineer, regarding the execution of emergency actions.
Libardo Gonzalez, Inspector of operations support at FENOCO, said, “On the radio I heard about the simulation of an engineer with a heart attack at milestone 936 at the Drummond exit. Due to situations with the track, the authorization was given to bring the train to the CNR grade crossing, where they carried out the procedure to evacuate the worker. The event went well, and taught us some lessons for the future. I hope they continue to do these events so we won’t have any accidents with train employees.”
During the simulation, controls were put in place at the rescue scene based on the risks established, and a real-time assessment was made of the workers’ reaction capacity.
Leiner Puche, Senior industrial safety supervisor in charge of the simulation, also had a chance to share his conclusions regarding the simulation: “Overall the result of this exercise was very positive, given that we were able to provide direct attention to the worker in a very short time. Simulation exercises are for training, to strengthen the practices of our brigade workers and everyone else who manages emergencies under the incident command system. Our Mutual Assistance Plan is quite strong, and we can therefore count on support from neighboring companies to be able to respond to emergencies in the best possible way.”
With the goal of even greater effectiveness for its Disaster Risk Management Plan, Drummond Ltd. continues to work to guarantee the safety of its employees and the optimal development of its operations.