Green River man dies in railcar accident
A 38-year-old Green River, Wyoming man died after being crushed by a railcar near a local trona mine.
Jason Charles Reher was pronounced dead at the scene on 02:20 Monday near FMC Corporation, Travis Sanders, Sweetwater County chief deputy coroner, said. Reher was hooking up an airline when he got caught underneath the railroad cars. Sanders said a couple of cars rolled over Reher and he died from multiple trauma.
Sweetwater County Sheriff Dave Gray said the department was notified about the accident and deputies were sent to ensure there was no foul play involved in the accident.
“It’s a terrible tragedy that’s happened here,” Gray said.
Since the accident happened near FMC, but it did not involve an FMC employee there was debate as to which agency would investigate it – the Mine, Safety and Heath Administration or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
OSHA will conduct the investigation because Reher worked for rail switching company called Canac Industrial Rail Management out of Salt Lake City, Utah, Johnnie Hall, OSHA-- Wyoming Workers Safety compliance supervisor, said.
Hall said the onsite investigation will take at least two days, which includes interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence. It’s important to ask witnesses what they saw and what happened.
Hall said investigators will complete a case file, which could take anywhere from three weeks to three months. It all depends on how complicated the case gets.
Howard Goodman, Canac senior vice president of people development, said Reher had only been working for the company for a few days. He said Reher was hired on Mar17.
Part of Reher’s work detail included switching railroad cars, which is normal everyday procedure for the employees, Goodman said.
“Obviously safety is a primary concern for us,” Goodman said. “It’s extremely important to us,” Goodman said.