Dodging a bullet: Japanese firm abandons safety drill that forced staff to squat inches away from high-speed trains
A Japanese railway firm has pulled the plug on a safety training drill that forced employees to squat in a maintenance tunnel while bullet trains rushed past at 300 km/h.
The unusual practice has been ditched by West Japan Railway company in the wake of mounting pressure from a staff union that feared for the safety of its workers.
Officials said the exercise, which involved employees crouching inside a narrow maintenance tunnel just inches away from fast-moving trains, was designed to give workers a greater appreciation of the force generated by trains travelling at maximum speed.
Some 240 trainee mechanics were involved in the drills that could last up to 20 minutes.
The firm introduced the exercises after an incident in 2015 in which an aluminium part fell off a train, with the company saying that it wanted to “improve their worker's skills of car inspection” and safety awareness after the accident.
However, a rail workers’ union has been raising fears over potential injuries from debris and concerns around exposure to dust.
One employee told the Mainichi Shimbun earlier this year: “The wind pressure was enormous. I felt as if I had been pressed down from above. It was scary, and I wondered what the point of it was.”
Mechanics are now set to observe the trains from behind a fence outside of the tunnel.