Following the East Palestine derailment, the Federal Railroad Administration announced they were going to survey the safety culture of all Class I railroads. While one railroad interfered with these investigations, the FRA was able to complete their evaluation of the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad (BNSF).
Their results, published this week, are both interesting and predictable.
BNSF managers are ignorant of real safety concerns
As shown in this graph, BNSF’s managers had a consistently high opinion of how safe the workplace is that they oversee. The more closely an employee works with an actual train, however, the lower their estimation of how safely the organization runs. Here is the reality check:
BNSF has room to do more for our safety — a lot more
The FRA’s overall findings show that BNSF’s corporate policies may lean into the idea that safety is the company’s highest priority, but that message doesn’t translate into policies by the time it reaches craft employees. Specific areas of concern include:
Clear reporting systems and accountability.
Open and effective communication across the railroad.
Mutual trust between employees and management.
Fair and consistent responses to safety concerns.
Training and resources are available to support safety.
A large part of FRA’s efforts to analyze the safety culture of the country’s largest railroads is based on the responses to interview questions given by employees. As part of the process, random railroaders from T&E, Maintenance of Way, Mechanical, Communications (dispatchers), and, of course, management are interviewed.
The employees operating the trains and the communities they pass through are not as safe as they could be, and railroad managers appear to be blind to this fact. Saying “safety first” on the BNSF website doesn’t result in safer trains. Earning trust, then investing in accountability, communication and training does.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Five railroads recently requested a special waiver to run their trains free from the oversight of the mandated safety technology Positive Train Control (PTC). The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) denied their request in part due to union objections.
Greg Hynes, SMART-TD’s national legislative director, explains that “our opposition was grounded in a commitment to protect our members and the public from the risks associated with operating trains without PTC.”
Class I carriers BNSF and Norfolk Southern, and passenger carriers South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, Caltrain, and the New Mexico Rail Runner Express requested the waivers. Railroads often request waivers to critical regulation that protect the communities through which they operate, but that can impact their operating expenses. In this case, the expense of keeping critical safety technology in good working order. Deferring that maintenance is one way they can cut costs.
Waivers such as this one is one strategy the railroads employ to undermine the regulations they perceive as burdensome; despite the positive impacts the rules have on public and worker safety. Freight carriers often prioritize production over safety, as they were trying to increase the speed of trains without the vital safety overlay of PTC.
“The FRA’s denial of this waiver request is a victory for rail safety and underscores the importance of adhering to established safety protocols,” Hynes said.
Jared Cassity, SMART-TD’s Alternate Legislative Director, added, “SMART-TD will continue to be a vigilant watchdog in the FRA’s public comment process. We are dedicated to ensuring that safety regulations are not compromised and that our members work in environments where safety is not negotiable.”
SMART-TD, alongside the Brotherhood of Railway Signalmen (BRS), the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department (TTD), and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE), opposed the request.
SMART-TD closely monitors the FRA’s public comment process as part of the union’s unwavering commitment to rail safety. Our members are the most at risk, which is why we continuously advocate for regulations that prioritize the well-being of rail workers, the safety of rail operations, and the communities in which we operate.
The railroads’ waiver was under review through FRA Docket Numbers FRA-2010-0039, FRA-2010-0045, FRA-2010-0051, FRA-2010-0056, and FRA-2010-0060.
SMART-TD is the Transportation Division of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers union. The union is the largest rail union in the United States and represents several operating crafts.
The U.S. Senate has not forgotten its role in holding the big railroads accountable.
Maria Cantwell, the senator who heads the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, confronted Union Pacific boss Beth Whited over an aborted safety review in a letter to the carrier.
Sen. Cantwell has now demanded all communications related to the aborted safety review. Cantwell gave the carrier until Aug. 9 to deliver.
Union Pacific should focus on safety instead of playing games
Cantwell noted in her letter that UP is going in the wrong direction regarding safety with a higher-than-average derailment rate than other Class I railroads.
Everyone at the SMART-TD railroad union, along with Sen. Cantwell, is very interested in hearing what UP has to say about why they felt the need to mislead the FRA, and what Whited and her company are doing to deliver meaningful safety measures.
CLEVELAND — The closing session of the SMART Transportation Division 2024 National Training Seminar recapped significant safety advancements driven by our railroad members over the last year.
The key to continuing those improvements is sharing safety concerns at every level. Several examples were presented at the seminar.
Passed in May 2024, Minnesota became the first state to protect yardmasters from excessive fatigue and overwork. After listening to their members, and with evidence in hand, they were able to make a positive change. Their shifts in the tower are now capped at 12 hours.
“They were successful, and I want to thank them for a job well done in getting hours of service protections for our yardmasters,” Ferguson said.
The push for federal protection for yardmasters continues in Washington, D.C.
After the East Palestine, Ohio, rail disaster, the Association of American Railroads committed its member railroads to take part in C3RS. Already routine for aviation workers, the anonymous reporting system is independently administered by NASA.
“They said they were in,” Alt. National Legislative Director Jared Cassity said, but the carriers balked during discussions with the FRA’s Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC). They wanted to keep the ability to punish their employees.
“So, we’ve not made a lot of headway,” Cassity said. “I am not going to stop our fight to pursue C3RS on Class Is across the country, and for every railroader, because the reality of it is the data’s there.”
Norfolk Southern’s pilot and BNSF, with its dispatchers and signal maintainers, are the two exceptions.
“It works in the aviation industry. They’ve had it for more than 40 years. We’ve had it for 20 years,” Cassity said. “It’s a proven product.”
Local union officers learn how to bring C3RS to their property
Rob Castiglione, staff director of safety partnerships and Liz Gross, legal counsel from the Federal Railroad Administration, outlined how to get a freight or passenger carrier to take part in C3RS.
FRA’s Rob Castiglione speaks during Day 3 of the National Training Seminar in Cleveland on July 11.
First, the local chairperson on smaller properties or general chairpersons on larger properties must reach a memorandum of understanding with carrier management. It’s not difficult, as FRA and labor set up a template in 2003.
“It’s important to get FRA involved early,” stressed Castiglione, who once served as an FRA inspector. “Once you start having conversations about what an agreement or an IMOU (initial memorandum of understanding) looks like, get us involved. We are a stakeholder — this is a tri-party agreement between labor, railroads and the FRA.”
“We can’t promote this program all by ourselves,” Castiglione said. “This program does not succeed if members do not participate. It really starts at the grassroots level with your local chairpersons. Some of those folks who work side by side — the engineers and conductors talk about this program and how it works.”
Finally, provide all the details in those reports. Sometimes it’s a struggle to collect usable information due to railroaders’ guarded nature, he said.
“Too often we get reports that lack sufficient detail for the peer review team to understand what the hell happened,” Castiglione said.
But NASA, which has handled close to 2 million reports since the program began, eliminates any personally identifiable details from the reports. Workers shouldn’t be wary of taking part.
“Never once has NASA breached confidentiality for either the carrier or the worker,” Castiglione said.
The safety benefits are well-documented. C3RS has resulted in 19 safety alerts, nine notices to industry at large and 90 immediate alerts to individual carriers.
Properties who take part see marked improvements in safety with no risk to those who take part — a more than 25 percent improvement in incidents from years before.
“Close-call reports will never put people in a worse place,” Gross said.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is looking into Union Pacific and its management for painting an inaccurate picture about its safety strategy. SMART Transportation Division members were coerced to paint a rosy picture of their employer.
All SMART-TD members who took part in this survey should get on record with their local chairperson, then call UP’s ethics hotline. That number is (800) 998-2000.
East Palestine raises railroad safety awareness
When Norfolk Southern’s freight train lit up the horizon of East Palestine, Ohio, on February 3, 2023, it woke up more than the sleeping residents of Southeast Ohio. Federal regulators, legislators, the press and the general public all became instantly aware that dangerous materials were being hauled in mass quantities through their communities.
This prompted the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to conduct a safety culture analysis of Norfolk Southern and all other Class I railroads.
Norfolk Southern and its management team were cooperative. NS CEO Allen Shaw and his board cooperated with FRA and a valid and thorough safety evaluation.
Union Pacific has chosen a more dangerous approach.
FRA says Union Pacific coached employee responses
On Friday, April 26, FRA served UP’s management team with written notice that it was suspending the assessment, suggesting that things are about to get ugly for the Omaha, Nebraska-based corporation.
The FRA safety evaluation begins with an employee survey to get the perspective of front-line workers. The administration is looking for unvarnished answers and observations from our members. This creates a baseline for their investigation.
In his letter to Union Pacific, FRA Associate Administrator Karl Alexy shared that he suspects that, instead of allowing employees to speak freely and without fear of retribution, several employees were “coached to provide specific responses to FRA questions if they were approached for a safety culture interview.”
Survey manipulation widespread; workers fear retaliation
Alexy’s letter said that reports of management “coaching” workers “span the UPRR system and railroad crafts,” putting the objectivity of the information in jeopardy.
Workers during the process also expressed reluctance and a “fear of retaliation,” according to FRA.
Workers also had to report to their supervisor if they took part in the data gathering. Data integrity and confidentiality were thus not assured, Alexy wrote. “With widespread evidence that these fundamental elements have been jeopardized, FRA has no choice but to end data collection activities,” he wrote.
Union Pacific appears to violate its own policies
Two things jump out at SMART-TD about this situation. First, the study being conducted by FRA concerns the safety culture at UP. According to the railroad’s propaganda “Safety is Union Pacific’s No. 1 Responsibility.” The obvious question is, what would CEO Vena and UP have to hide and why would they need to coach its workers if safety was its top responsibility?
Secondly, what happened to UP’s “Statement of Policy on Ethics and Business Conduct,” which is prominently featured in their rule book?
UP’s policy clearly says that “No employee should take advantage of any party through manipulation, concealment, abuse of confidential information, misrepresentation of material facts or any other unfair practice.”
An effort to deceive a federal regulator and threaten/bully its employees into taking part in its scheme appears to violate all of those rules.
Another interesting quote from UP’s Ethics and Business Conduct Policy is that “Communicating this policy and OVERSEEING COMPLIANCE is the responsibility of the Chief Executive Officer and officers of the Company.”
FRA stopped collecting safety data from the carrier due to its discovery of manipulation, according to Alexy. It may try to restart the process later.
Ramifications
As far as SMART-TD is concerned, if FRA’s allegations are proven to be true, UP CEO Jim Vena and his executive team have violated their own Ethics and Business Conduct Policy. Either he was part of this scheme to mislead FRA or he was derelict in his duty to oversee the compliance of the ethics policy according to his company’s policy. Moreover, such conduct does not show a responsible approach to safety that the company says it adheres to.
No matter how this situation between the FRA and UP plays out, it is in the best interest of all SMART-TD members who have taken part in this survey to get on record with your local chairperson and the carrier’s ethics hotline. That number again is (800) 998-2000.
Your union will keep you informed as this situation progresses.
SMART-TD’s Alternate National Legislative Director Jared Cassity was featured on an episode of America’s Workforce Union Podcast, covering a wide range of rail industry topics including the hostile takeover attempt at Norfolk Southern, the FRA’s 2PC ruling, the Railway Safety Act to East Palestine, Ohio, and beyond.
“Safety does cost some money sometimes — but [the railroads are] still making billions of dollars in each quarter. There’s no rationale to cut the safety aspect out of it,” Cassity told host Ed “Flash” Ferencz. “They make money despite themselves.”
Alternate National Legislative Director Jared Cassity addresses a rail labor solidarity rally on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in December 2022 on the day before the FRA’s hearing on the two-person crew rule.
Cassity continues, “so their interest isn’t really in preventing accidents. [They ask] is it cheaper to make all these changes to prevent it, or is it cheaper to clean it up? And if you look at Norfolk Southern, if you look at this policy and you look at what Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy of the NTSB just said, blowing up those cars [in East Palestine] didn’t have to happen. The railroad chose to take the fastest, easiest course. It’s not about safety. It’s about the bottom line.”
“So the Rail Safety Act is working to fix that. This is a perfect example of why elections matter.”
“The crews aren’t always aware of what is going on with their trains. Like in East Palestine, there were defects that were actually happening as they were going down the rail and making their trip. In your car, the check engine light comes on to tell you there’s a problem, that wasn’t happening for the crews. What was happening is that the notification was going to some backroom with a manager sitting in Atlanta, Georgia, and then they were making the decision of whether or not to tell the crew if they should stop the train. And it’s just a completely bonkers notion of how you run that.”
“And for them to say that there’s no safety data or anything of that nature is not true, because everything that we have today is because of the two-person crew. But the unfortunate reality of this is all of the success stories, all of the accidents that are prevented, all of the things that didn’t happen because of the second person in the crew is not recorded or captured or reported in any capacity by the railroads to anyone.”
Brother Cassity is an authority on rail safety. He came from the craft working as a conductor and engineer out of the Russell, Kentucky, crew base for CSX. A longtime member of the National Safety Team before leading it, Cassity participates in federal investigations of rail safety mishaps. When national media outlets want to discuss safety regulations on America’s railroads, Brother Cassity is consistently at the top of their lists.
SMART-TD wants to thank Brother Cassity for a job well done, amplifying our concerns and discussing our victories with a nationwide audience.
Railroad history was made the first week of April 2024. The U.S. Department of Transportation issued a final rule stating that freight trains in this country cannot be safely run with fewer than two certified railroaders in a locomotive cab.
History could not have been made without you. SMART-TD has been leading this fight for more than two decades. The FRA received over 13,000 public comments on this rule. Only 64 of those were against it. That is an amazing, concerted effort on the part of our members and allies that shows the power of solidarity. YOU beat the railroad executives and their deep pockets. It wasn’t even close.
The rule was announced by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Federal Railroad Administrator Amit Bose on behalf of the Biden administration. SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson then spoke of the efforts of rail families, concerned members of the public and, most importantly, the experiences of our union members inside the rail cab.
The quality of what you wrote, not just the raw number of responses, is what truly moved the needle. Your personal experiences opened the eyes of the FRA to the lives that were saved and the potential disasters averted by the presence of a second person in the cab. Your experiences could not be denied. Thank you, from your union brothers and sisters, and on behalf of every American who lives, works or plays near a set of tracks.
We also would like to thank Wes Ekstedt, out of Local 445 in Galesburg, Illinois, who formed the “Fight For 2-Person Crews” Facebook page and website. Justin Wolters, from Local 1381 and general chairperson of the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad, and Nick Greficz, local chairperson from Local 278, were among the leaders of a page called “We the Union” that helped coalesce union efforts.
These leaders never missed an opportunity to advocate to the public and protect safety. They helped create a movement.
It is no secret that the 2PC effort helped unite all 12 rail labor organizations under the umbrella of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO. The message was also echoed by our friends in other labor unions outside of the rail industry. The rule announcement was introduced by David Hoagland, President of the District of Columbia Fire Fighters Association. Experienced first responders know who to rely on when there is a rail-related accident. The International Association of Fire Fighters strongly advocated for this ruling, and we express gratitude for their assistance.
Thanks also to The National League of Cities who provided unwavering support and advocacy for safe rail operations in our country.
It would be remiss not to thank the state legislative directors in every state who have pushed for 2PC legislation. As we all know and have celebrated, 12 states achieved the governor’s signature on legislation or had regulations on minimum crew size on the books before the FRA’s historic announcement. Unquestionably, whether a bill passed or not, the efforts made in the state houses were instrumental in the national push. Every time one of our SLDs presented legislation on the matter, it created public discussion and awareness of the critical role conductors play in protecting their communities. For all the state directors who fought the good fight for rail safety, we thank you and congratulate you on winning the war.
All in all, there are too many people to thank to have any hope of mentioning everyone. Our union is stronger than ever, the community we have built around us is active and engaged, and together we put the rail bosses on notice. We are watching, and we will use our collective strength to protect public and worker safety however inconvenient that becomes for the profit-at-all-cost railroads and their owners.
We thank all of our members and advocates for everything they did to bring the fight this far. Your efforts have been seen, and we have seen the results, but there is work left to do. Every new administration brings the risk of new regulations. We need to protect the progress that we have made. Now that the FRA’s 2PC rule is a reality it is time to focus on passing the Railway Safety Act.
“I would like to start off by saying that this decision by President Biden’s administration is historic for SMART-TD members and all rail labor. Today’s ruling codifying the two-person freight crew not only demonstrates this administration’s dedication to the safety of this country and our workforce, but it also shows their respect and acknowledgment of our men and women and the work they do. They see our value to this nation’s economy and security. Every railroad professional should take pride in this accomplishment and recognition. We are too often undervalued. Today is a day we should all remember. When this rule came open for public comments, SMART members stood up and spoke with over 13,000 responses to the FRA. Today, we all celebrate the result and the essential proof of the value of the labor of the people aboard the nation’s freight trains. This effort defines what it is to be a union and the power of workers to stand as one. We did it together as a SMART-TD family, and I am unbelievably proud to be the president of this union in what is a defining moment for our industry where safety finally and deservedly came first.”
— SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (April 2, 2024) — After a multi-year effort by SMART-TD members and leadership, DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced today that there will be a minimum of TWO certified rail crew members assigned to the cab of freight trains in the nation. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) ruling on the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) finally puts safety first for our industry. With this action, President Joe Biden’s Department of Transportation (DOT) delivered on a promise made in 2020, which supports our ongoing struggle to force railroads to responsibly operate their trains.
SMART Transportation Division President Jeremy Ferguson speaks during the announcement of the FRA’s two-person crew regulation on April 2.
Today’s announcement solidifies the role of freight conductors in this country. It comes after a long fight between SMART-TD and the Association of American Railroads (AAR), the railroad companies it represents and the hedge fund operators who own many of the nation’s railroads. SMART’s members participated by sending 13,000 comments to the FRA on the regulation. TD President Jeremy Ferguson and our union’s national and state legislative officers relentlessly pushed lawmakers and government officials to understand the safety ramifications of a nation with single-person freight train crews. President Ferguson attended and testified at the FRA’s public hearing on this regulation in December 2022 and delivered 20 minutes of firsthand accounts to FRA officials demanding they take this step to protect the country from the railroad companies’ greed.
Federal Railroad Administrator Amit Bose speaks as SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg listen in Washington D.C. on April 2.
National Legislative Director Greg Hynes and Alternate National Legislative Director Jared Cassity orchestrated outreach to every state in the U.S., mobilizing our members to stand up and take part in the public comment period, resulting in our record-setting number of submissions.
Cassity had this to say: “It is no secret that the railroads in this country have been relentlessly pursuing a way to cut our rail crews down to one person. They have poured millions of dollars into pursuing technology that allows them to do this. These corporations are open with the fact they see more value in the trajectory of their stock prices than the safety of this country or the well-being of the conductors and engineers who are the bedrock of our economy. This fight raged for years and, as a union family, we stood toe to toe with the railroads. I want to thank our members for staying engaged in this fight.”
The announcement of this new regulation comes as a relief to all rail workers and to all concerned with rail safety in America. SMART-TD National Legislative Director Greg Hynes gives credit for this win to the collective effort of railroad workers and the state legislative committees throughout SMART’s organization.
“This announcement didn’t come out of thin air. It came from the hard work and dedication of SMART-TD’s men and women!” Hynes said. “Two-person crew regulations have been discussed for years through multiple presidencies and even more sessions of Congress. The men and women of this union have never relented or allowed this issue to get pushed to the side. Our state legislative directors have taken up this fight state after state. Our members have made their voices heard from coast to coast on this issue. Today we reach a place where our vigilance and persistence have paid off. This administration got it done.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announces FRA’s two-person crew ruling on April 2 in Washington, D.C.
The regulation, often mired in partisan struggles, was not a certainty. SMART-TD state legislative committees worked relentlessly to get a dozen states to set a minimum crew size. Our work would continue should the regulation change under a future administration.
Cassity continues, “We have every right to celebrate today’s ruling from the Biden administration, but we cannot for one second think this fight is over. We must stay informed, involved, and on offense. These railroads aren’t used to losing. They will come out swinging to argue against the reality that our people matter, and we have got to be ready for it. SMART-TD remains vigilant, and we ask you to continue to stand with us.”
Attendees at the announcement of the two-person crew freight regulation take a group photo April 2, 2024.
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If you’re interested in speaking more about the ruling on two-person freight rail crews, we’d be happy to connect you with:
SMART Transportation Division President Jeremy Ferguson
President Jeremy Ferguson, a member of Local 313 in Grand Rapids, Mich., was elected president of SMART’s Transportation Division in 2019.
President Ferguson, an Army veteran, started railroading in 1994 as a conductor on CSX at Grand Rapids, Mich., and was promoted to engineer in 1995. Ferguson headed the 2019 national rail negotiations for the union.
SMART Transportation Division National Legislative Director Gregory Hynes
Greg Hynes is a fifth-generation railroader and was elected national legislative director in 2019.
Hynes served on the SMART Transportation Division National Safety Team that assists the National Transportation Safety Board with accident investigations, from 2007-2014.
In 2014, he was appointed to the Federal Railroad Administration’s Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC), which develops new railroad regulatory standards.
Hynes was appointed the first chairperson of the United Transportation Union’s Rail Safety Task Force in 2009 and served in that capacity until being elected SMART Transportation Division alternate national legislative director at the Transportation Division’s 2014 convention.
SMART Transportation Division Alternate National Legislative Director Jared Cassity
Jared Cassity, a member of Local 1377 (Russell, Ky.), was elected to the office of alternate national legislative director at the Second SMART Transportation Division Convention in August 2019 and became director of the union’s National Safety Team in June 2021.
Cassity started his railroad career with CSX in September 2005 and was promoted to engineer in 2008.
In addition to his elected roles, he has been a member of the National Safety Team since 2014, where he was subsequently elected to the position of Alternate Director (East) for the NST in 2016. Likewise, he was elected by his fellow peers of state directors to serve as the directors’ representative on the CSX Safety Model Executive Board in 2013.
Investigative journalist Topher Sanders released a report on ProPublica today where he reveals how multiple injuries and fatalities were swept under the rug by Class I carriers BNSF, Union Pacific, CSX and Norfolk Southern. The article goes into detail on stories common to us in the industry. Jared Cassity, SMART-TD Alternate National Legislative Director, helped shine a public spotlight on this critical issue.
Brother Cassity is a nationally recognized expert on railroad safety and a leader of SMART-TD’s National Safety Team (NST). He does not sugarcoat his responses, especially when it comes to the well-being of our members.
“The system is rigged, especially when it comes to injuries. You see what they want you to see,” Cassity said in the article. ProPublica found that carriers pick and choose what injuries they report so that they can boast about their safety records.
As the largest rail union in the nation, SMART-TD is an established authority for rail-related issues. Brother Cassity’s efforts reflect our union’s commitment to safeguard members, have our hardships recognized and to force the railroads to improve conditions for those who keep our economy moving.
The Federal Railroad Administration’s Office of Railroad Safety issued the following bulletin on Feb. 13, 2024, in response to an industry fatality earlier this year. The text is reproduced below:
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is investigating an accident that resulted in fatal injuries to a locomotive engineer during yard switching operations.
At the time of the accident, the fatally injured engineer, who had approximately 30 years of experience, was operating a locomotive on the east side of the yard and working with a conductor and brakeman to switch cars. Another crew was switching cars on the west side of the yard and had set out 35 cars.
At some point, those 35 cars from the west side of the yard track rolled uncontrolled towards the east, colliding with the locomotive, occupied by the engineer, that was located on the east yard track switching lead. The collision ejected the engineer from the locomotive cab and the engineer succumbed to his injuries.
Although FRA’s investigation into this accident is ongoing, FRA is issuing this bulletin to remind railroads and railroad employees of the importance of ensuring rolling equipment is properly secured at all times, including ensuring:
Employees understand the importance of complying with railroad rules for securement of rolling equipment;
Railroads provide employees adequate training on railroad operating rules and procedures for proper securement of rolling equipment;
Railroads provide employees appropriate periodic oversight of compliance with railroad operating rules and procedures for proper securement of rolling equipment;
Railroads empower employees to seek immediate clarification of any safety rule, including rules related to the securement of equipment; and
Railroads remind employees of the dangers associated with improperly secured rolling equipment.
The purpose of this Safety Bulletin, which is informal in nature, is to ensure the railroad industry, including railroad employees, are aware of this recent accident that resulted in a fatality of an employee. As FRA completes its investigation, it may take additional actions with respect to this accident.
For further information, please contact John Mayser, Operating Practices Specialist, at john.mayser@dot.gov or (202) 493-8008.
Issued: February 13, 2024
This bulletin is available below as a printable PDF.
Remember to use the union’s Safety Condition Report either through the website or the SMART app to alert officers to concerns about your property. Railroad workers who experience difficulty with Positive Train Control are also encouraged to fill out a Technology Event Report.
