Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Tango with a Train

We have all experienced it. You’re running late and you see those red flashing lights and your heart sinks. The train. If only you had run out the door 30 seconds earlier. As the train slides by car after car, you wonder, could you tango with this steel monster and win? For one CLAC member, this question was answered.

January 12, 2017, started out like any other Thursday for Don Dzeryk. After a decade at OEM Remanufacturing in Edmonton and nearly as many years as a CLAC steward, Don headed in to work early to serve at a union meeting before starting his shift as an engine service bay technician. It was one of those extremely cold winter days you can expect in Alberta. He could have gone the trestle way, and normally would have, but today he turned to go the other way where the tracks cross the road at a diagonal. There were no red flashing lights or dissuading crossbar for Don—he lives far enough out of the city that all he gets is that wooden X letting him know what he already knew: tracks were present. He slowed down as he always did for the sign. He heard the train’s horn, urgent and angry, and did what any of us would do. He hit the brakes—hard. What he was not counting on was the ice. A slick layer of ice right where he needed his tires to grip. There was nothing he could do, the train was right there, and there wasn’t even time to think. As Don says, he “ran out of room” and smashed head-on with the front of the train.

When the fire department asked Don if he had lost consciousness, he said no, but then he wondered, what happened to all the time? The time from impact to spinning to ricocheting off the train to the fire department getting there. Mostly, he remembers walking from his crushed car to the ambulance.

In the hospital, he would have time. Time to consider what he almost lost. Time to rework the moment. Time to recover from a fractured ankle, two fractured vertebrae, and a concussion. Time to speculate on how it could have been so much worse. Even more, Don had time to recognize how comfortable we get with our every day actions, how our habits form most of what we do. Safety is not a one-time decision but a series of habits.

“Every day you are forming the habits that keep you safe when there is no time to think about what to do,” says Don. “I’m here to do what I can to make sure every one of us gets home safe.”

Don’s story is in every way simple but epic. Don Dzeryk went head to head with a remorseless, unflinching, unstoppable train and literally walked away. We welcomed Don back to work mere months after the wreck and are thankful for his continued service as a CLAC steward. Welcome back Don!

Tango with a Train

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