CHAPTER VIII Safety of Operation SCOPE NOTE This chapter includes grants of power authorizing commissions to regulate utilities with regard to the safety of the service rendered. Provisions prescribing by legislative enactment specific safety appliances and standards of safety, even when enforcement is left to commissions, have been excluded. For provisions incidentally involving questions of safety, see ch. iv, on establishment and change of rates, and ch. vii, on service. For provisions prescribing general procedure to be followed in the exercise of commission authority, see ch. xiv, on commission procedure and practice. For provisions prescribing general rules of enforcement and judicial review, see ch. xv, on enforcement. For general statement of scope and method, see introduction. A. ANALYSIS PAGE General authority of commission with respect to safety of operation... 652 B. Authority of commission to examine, inspect or investigate equipment or facilities, to order repairs and safety appliances and to fix standards of safety.... 655 C. Duty of utilities to report or give notice of accidents, and authority of commission to investigate the same and make recommendations with respect thereto... 674 A. GENERAL AUTHORITY OF COMMISSION WITH RESPECT TO SAFETY OF OPERA TION.1 CONNECTICUT No part of any railroad or street railway shall be opened for public travel unless the company operating such 2548 railroad or street railway shall first obtain a certificate signed by commission that it is in a suitable and safe condition. Gen. Stats. 1902, sec. 3886. Commission shall, from time to time, recommend to the several companies operating steam railroads and street railways in the state, or to any of them, the adoption of such measures and 2549 regulations as such commission deems conducive to the public safety or interest; and shall report to the next general assembly any neglect on the part of any such company to comply with any such recommendation. Same, sec. 3895. FLORIDA Commission shall make and adopt reasonable rules and regulations requiring railroad companies and other common carriers operating railroads wholly or in part in the state 2550 to maintain the roadbeds, rights of way, tracks, depots, rolling stock, and other fixtures and equipment of such railway lines within the state in a safe and proper condition. Laws 1907, ch. 5622, sec. 2. Commission shall require all railroad companies operating railroads, either in whole or in part within the state, to construct 2551 and maintain all their switches and switching devices in a safe manner and condition. Same, sec. 3. If any railroad company, or other common carrier, operating a railroad wholly or in part in the state, shall refuse to comply with any rule, order or regulation provided or prescribed by commission under the authority of this act, or shall otherwise violate any 2552 of the provisions of this act, such company or common carrier shall thereby incur a penalty for each such offense of not more than $5,000 to be fixed, imposed and collected by commission in the manner provided in section 2908 of the general statutes of the state of Florida. Same, sec. 4. MAINE No passenger train shall be run over any new railroad, or over any railroad in process of construction, until commission has made an inspection of such railroad and granted See also pars. 2273-2314, 2381-2464. a certificate of its safety for public travel. Any person or cor2553 poration, violating the provisions of this section, forfeits to the state $100 for each offense, to be recovered in an action on the case, or by complaint and indictment; and the attorney general shall institute proceedings to recover the same. Rev. Stats. 1903, as amended, ch. 51, sec. 51. No street railroad shall be operated for street traffic until commission has made an inspection of such railroad and granted a certificate of its safety for public travel. Any person or cor2554 poration violating the provisions of this section, forfeits to the state $100 for each offense, to be recovered in an action on the case, or by complaint and indictment, and the attorney general shall institute proceedings to recover the same. Rev. Stats. 1903, ch. 53, sec. 20. MASSACHUSETTS No street railway or portion or extension thereof shall be opened for public use until railroad commission, after an examination, certifies that all laws relative to its construction have been complied with, and that it appears to be in 2555 a safe condition for operation; but nothing herein contained shall be construed as compelling commission to grant such certificate until the entire road included in the location of such railway, portion or extension has been completed. Acts 1906, ch. 463, pt. iii, sec. 73. NEVADA Commission may determine and order the use of safety appliances in the interest of employes and the traveling public, such as crossing-gates, flagmen, bells, devices, etc., interlocking plants at railway crossings and all other modern safety devices. Commission may determine and order the manner in which any railroad, street railway, steam or electric railway, or other common carrier, may cross another railroad, street 2556 railway, whatever the motive power, at grade, or above or below grade, and shall prescribe the safety appliances and regulations that should be adopted at such crossings or at existing grade crossings of railroads, steam, electric, or other motive power railways for the protection of the public and the prevention of accidents. Stats. 1907, ch. 44, sec. 7, as amended by Stats. 1909, ch. 121, sec. 3. NEW MEXICO Commission shall require all intrastate railways, transportation companies or common carriers, to provide such reasonable safety appliances in connection with all equip2557 ment, as may be necessary and proper for the safety of its em ployes and the public, and as are now or may be required by the federal laws, rules and regulations governing interstate com NORTH CAROLINA Commission may make any necessary and proper rules, orders and regulations for the safety, comfort and 2558 convenience of passengers, shippers or patrons of any public service corporation, and require the observance of the same by the company and its employes. Acts 1907, ch. 469, sec. 1(a). SOUTH CAROLINA No railroad, branch, or extension of a railroad, shall hereafter be opened for public use until commission, after an examination, certifies that all laws relating to the construction 2559 thereof have been complied with, and that the road appears to be in a safe condition for operation, unless commission shall, after the ten days' written notice to it by said railroad company of such proposed opening, fail to make such examination and certificate. Gen. Stats. 1902, sec. 2136. WASHINGTON WISCONSIN See par. 1044. Upon the completion of the construction of any railroad or extension or branch thereof, under the specification as approved by commission, the applicant company shall, before operating said railroad, or extension or branch thereof, excepting for construction purposes, and before opening the same to public service, report the same to commission and commission shall thereupon inspect and examine said railroad, or extension or branch thereof, or cause the same to be inspected and examined, and if it shall be found that the same has been constructed in 2560 accordance with said specification as approved and is otherwise suitable and properly constructed so as to conserve and protect the public safety in the operation thereof, commission shall grant to said applicant railroad an order authorizing it to operate the same, which order shall be presumptive evidence of the sufficiency of such construction. Said order shall specify in general terms the methods and conditions of such operation and it shall not be lawful for any such railroad or extension or branch thereof, to be operated till such order has been so granted and obtained. Laws 1907, ch. 454, sec. 1797–57, as amended by Laws 1909, ch. 475. Commission may establish reasonable rules, regulations, 2561 specifications, and standards for the installation, operation, and maintenance of all safety devices and measures. Laws 1911, ch. 297, sec. 1797-9b. B. AUTHORITY OF COMMISSION TO EXAMINE, INSPECT OR INVESTIGATE EQUIPMENT OR FACILITIES, TO ORDER REPAIRS AND SAFETY APPLIANCES AND TO FIX STANDARDS OF SAFETY.1 ALABAMA ARIZONA See par. 243. Commission may, after a hearing had upon its own motion or upon complaint, by general or special orders, rules or regulations, or otherwise, require every public service corporation to maintain and operate its line, plant, system, equipment, apparatus, tracks and premises in such manner as to promote and safeguard the health and safety of its employes, passengers, customers, and the public, and to this end prescribe, among other 2562 things, the installation, use, maintenance and operation of appropriate safety or other devices or appliances, including interlocking and other protective devices at grade crossings or junctions and block or other systems of signaling, establish uniform or other standards of equipment, and require the performance, of any other act which the health or safety of its employes, passengers, customers or the public may demand. Sess. Laws 1912, ch. 90, sec. 42. ARKANSAS Commission shall, as often as it deems it necessary, carefully examine the condition of the several railroads of the state; and commission, whenever it has reasonable grounds to believe either on complaint or otherwise that any of the tracks, bridges, or other structures of any railroads in the state, are in a condition which renders any of them dangerous or unfit for the transportation of passengers with reasonable safety, inspect and examine the same; and if on such examination in its opinion or in the opinion of a majority of commission, any such tracks, bridges, or other structures, or works, are unfit for the transportation of passengers with reasonable safety, it shall give to the superintendent or other executive officer of the company working or operating said defective tracks, bridges, or other structures, notice of the condition thereof, and of the repairs necessary to place same in safe condition; and may also order and direct the speed of trains over such dangerous and defective tracks, bridge, or other structure, until said repairs are made, and the time within 1 See also pars. 2417-2434 |