Last year was the safest year in the history of the railroad industry, based on performance measures tracked by the Federal Railroad Administration.
For the fifth fiscal year in a row, the industry has improved on all six of the FRA’s official safety performance measures, including the rate of grade crossing incidents, human factor-caused train accidents, track-caused accidents, equipment-caused accidents, signal and miscellaneous train accidents, and non-accidental rail hazmat releases.
The industry has also met the Department of Transportation’s set safety performance goal for rate of rail related accidents and incidents.
Those performance measures were highlighted in a message to railroad industry and labor leaders from Federal Railroad Administration head Joe Szabo.
“We thank our partners at the railroads, their employees and communities across America for their commitment to achieving these results. Keeping our railroads safe is a team effort,” Szabo said.
These statistics are somewhat welcome news to the UTU and its membership. In 2012, six members of the UTU were killed while on active railroad duty. That is the least number of UTU rail members killed on active duty since 2009.
“While there is a bright side to the data released by the FRA, there are still some clouds in the sky,” said UTU International President Mike Futhey. “Even one death on the railroad is one too many.”
Szabo acknowledges there is more work to be done.
“This year, we will continue to take proactive measures to prevent accidents and incidents by aggressively advancing Risk Reduction and System Safety Programs. We will also stay focused on our collaborative effort with industry and labor to eliminate electronic device distraction. Together, we can make 2013 even safer,” he said.
Distractions occur everywhere in our daily lives, but when those in safety sensitive positions are distracted on the job, the results too often result in death or career-ending injuries.
A collaborative effort among the Federal Railroad Administration, rail labor and carriers has been launched to educate and raise awareness through peer-to-peer programs of the dangers of being distracted by using electronic devices while on the job.
Specifically, the FRA has asked carriers to adopt anti-distraction programs and to remind and reinforce among rail workers in safety sensitive positions that use of electronic devices while on the job is not only in violation of federal and carrier regulations, but “socially unacceptable.”
In 2008, the FRA issued an emergency order prohibiting the use of electronic devices by rail operating employees, and it was followed in 2010 by a new permanent regulation that applies to all operating employees.
“Addressing the use of electronic devices as a safety hazard requires integrity in the process, consistency in application to all employees and all devices, and common sense in the design of the process,” said UTU National Legislative Director James Stem. “When we push the decision making process down to the level of local employee representatives and local managers, and a consensus based approach, all hazards will be addressed.”
Stem compares this consensus based approach to the success of Operation Redblock programs and the new model for success known as the Confidential Close Call Reporting system.
Stem also reminds members that in the event of a collision, derailment or fatality, one of the first actions taken by the National Transportation Safety Board is to pull the phone records of all crew members involved, as well as the phone records of crew members on other trains in the area of the event. “You don’t have to be directly involved to have your phone records examined by NTSB investigators,” Stem said.
“A good and safe practice,” Stem said, “is for all conductors and engineers starting their shift to show other crew members that they have turned off their cell phones.”
Click here to view FRA Administrator Joe Szabo’s message.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Reflecting on violence against air, bus and rail members, UTU International Assistant President Arty Martin told attendees at the union’s regional meeting here June 20 that protecting the working conditions and safety of members is among the highest of UTU objectives.
“Our jobs are notoriously dangerous and we are going to insist that local, state and federal legislators and regulators help the UTU lead the way in imposing adequate protections for transportation workers,” Martin said. “We have long spoken to carriers about improving on-duty safety and training for their front-line employees, but they ignore us. So, now we will work legislatively to gain the protections our members deserve while serving the public.”
Just recently, a UTU member — Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus operator Alan Thomas — was murdered aboard his bus by a passenger, and there have been instances of armed thugs robbing freight train crews while trains were awaiting clearance onto or off main lines. And daily, UTU-member flight attendants, bus operators and passenger-rail conductors are subject to threats and abuse by passengers. On June 19 in Minneapolis, a passenger threatened with a knife a Northstar commuter rail conductor.
The UTU has already achieved two notable worker-safety mandates:
* The Federal Railroad Administration earlier this year published a final rule requiring that all new and remanufactured locomotives in road and yard service be equipped with a secure cab lock, and that climate control assure tolerable temperatures inside the cab when it is secure.
* The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has imposed significant monetary sanctions against numerous railroads for retaliating against employees who report on-duty injuries and seek medical treatment.
Additionally, the UTU is completing – with help from a federal grant — development of a training manual for front-line Amtrak employees that helps them recognize and react to potential terrorism threats and passenger abuses. Martin said new applications for federal grants to expand the program to airlines, bus lines, commuter and freight railroads is in progress.
Also, the UTU National Legislative Office is working with the UTU Bus Department to gain new mandates on minimum training and operator safety from Congress, state legislatures and localities.
“We will be ramping up these efforts, developing an accelerated legislative strategy to advance member safety and minimum training politically,” Martin said. “Our objective is the best trained and safest work force in America.”
Martin spoke on other issues important to the UTU membership:
* The UTU has sought from the National Mediation Board a release from mediation for UTU Local 40 pilots employed by Great Lakes Airlines who have been in fruitless wage, benefits and working-conditions negotiations with the carrier for almost 55 months.
* UTU finances are solid, Martin said. “Rather than rumors five years ago that we were on the verge of closing our doors within 20 days, this administration has used constant monitoring of expenditures to put the UTU on a stable financial footing.”
* The UTU Insurance Association continues to grow its policy holders and remains strong financially. “When you purchase policies from your UTU Insurance Association you are not supporting insurance companies that go to state houses and Capitol Hill to lobby against collective bargaining and your job security,” Martin said.
* The UTU’s Discipline Income Protection Plan, which had been on the verge of bankruptcy when the Futhey administration took office in January 2008, “has a bottom line more solid than at any time in the past decade,” Martin said. “Our DIPP looks for ways to pay claims and not ways to keep you from collecting claims as other plans do.”
* The national rail contract negotiated by the UTU is in stark contrast to the previous round of bargaining, under a different administration, where the UTU did not take the lead. “During the previous round, we weren’t leaders and we saw health care insurance premiums rise from $100 monthly to $200,” Martin said. “The Futhey administration took the lead in negotiations this round and won a cap at the same $200 rate through June 20, 2016,” even though health care costs have been soaring and most others in government and the private sector pay upwards of $400 monthly for less comprehensive coverage.
Martin urged attendees to “take the lessons and experiences you gained in regional meeting workshops back to your members. Tell them what this union is all about, how it is the backbone of America’s middle class, how strong we are and how the UTU has led the way and will continue to lead the way,” Martin said.
Job briefings can prevent serious injuries and fatalities, says the Federal Railroad Administration in a switching fatalities and severe injury update. The FRA cites 23 fatalities that have occurred as a result of what it terms “inadequate job briefings.”
The FRA offers the following tips for “an effective job briefing”:
* First, a job briefing is different from a safety briefing. A job briefing is specific to upcoming work and its interrelated and independent tasks. A safety briefing is more general, often occurring at the beginning of a shift
* Ongoing communication is crucial among employees during the entire time switching operations are being performed, including periods when tasks are changing or when anomalies occur. Thus, it is important always to monitor work-in-progress, especially for anomalies. When work changes occur, the employees involved may not maintain current with these changes. They may be unaware of the tasks to be performed, and this may place them in peril.
* All crew members should be empowered to stop work and request a job briefing
* A job briefing is a two-way exchange of information to reach an understanding of the tasks being performed. All should participate in the job briefing, regardless of seniority. All should be heard about concerns of upcoming work. All should understand the exact nature of work to be performed
* A job briefing cannot be standardized, generalized or simply rule based. Switching acts can be unique to circumstances and location. A briefing must be adequate and specific to the acts. Fatalities have resulted even after a job briefing because the briefing was not adequate
* At a minimum, a job briefing should include:
* Who will act * What act is to be done * Where the act will occur * When the act will occur * Why the act is being done
* An effective job briefing can prevent harm to employees monitoring switching operations for anomalies from what was planned. Stopping work when appropriate, and holding an effective job briefing, are part of safe operating practices.
For more information on FRA safety advisories, click on the following link:
WASHINGTON – Warnings of speed violations have been issued by the National Transportation Safety Board, which urges unions, their members, carriers and the Federal Railroad Administration to work collaboratively to ensure compliance of train and engine crews with speed restrictions.
The NTSB action followed its investigation of five rear-end collisions where the NTSB concluded that crewmembers “failed to operate their trains at the required restricted speed.” Two of the rear-end collisions resulted in fatalities.
Said the NTSB:
“Signal systems provide for the safe separation between trains. However, there are times when trains are authorized to occupy the same sections of track. In these cases, safe train operations rely solely on crewmember compliance with the railroad’s restricted speed requirements.
“Typically, these requirements include being prepared to stop within one-half the range of vision. Complete understanding of, and strict compliance with, restricted speed requirements are absolutely mandatory to prevent catastrophic train collisions.”
Specifically, the NTSB urged the UTU and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen to educate their respective rail membership so that all involved recognize “the importance of operating their trains in accordance with restricted speed operating rules.”
Additionally, the NTSB urged the UTU and the BLET to work collaboratively with railroads “to identify the potential for similar occurrences and to take appropriate mitigating actions.”
The NTSB also urged railroads to “emphasize adequate training and ensure the compliance of train crews operating at restricted speeds.”
The NTSB does not have regulatory authority – only investigative authority. Thus, the NTSB makes recommendations to carriers, labor organizations and the Federal Railroad Administration – the latter having regulatory authority over rail safety.
The five accidents referred to by the NTSB were:
* Red Oak, Iowa, April 17, 2011, on BNSF
* Low Moor, Va., May 21, 2011, on CSX
* Mineral Springs, N.C., May 24, 2011, on CSX
* DeWitt, N.Y., July 6, 2011, on CSX
* DeKalb, Ind., Aug. 19, 2011, on Norfolk Southern
UTU National Legislative Director James Stem, in commending the NTSB for its “diligence in helping to save lives,” said, “Compliance with restrictive speed is a common sense application of safety concepts when following another train. This is another example of operating rules that offer good advice.”
During the first six months of 2011, 37 serious injuries occurred during switching operations, resulting in three fatalities and eight amputations; while over the past two years, five rail workers have died in accidents involving rolling rail equipment.
The Switching Operations Fatality Analysis (SOFA) Working Group and the UTU Rail Safety Task Force have been consulting with the FRA to study the causes and prevention of such horrific accidents, leading the FRA Oct. 11 to issue new recommendations aimed at preventing such fatalities and injuries.
The recommendations, published in the Federal Register, are intended, says the FRA, to convey to carrier management and rail workers “the critical importance of following key operating procedures when going between rolling equipment.”
These recommendations include:
*Review current operating and safety rules that specifically address remote control locomotive and conventional switching operations that require employees to go between rolling equipment, and determine whether those rules provide adequate protection to employees, or need to be updated or revised;
* Develop, implement and monitor sound communication protocols that require employees on multi-person switch crews to notify their fellow crewmembers when the need arises to enter between two pieces of rolling equipment – regardless of whether the employee is the primary RCO or working on a conventional crews.
* Review SOFA Safety Recommendation No. 1 relating to adjusting knuckles, adjusting drawbars and installing end-of-train devices, and communicate procedures implementing that recommendation to employees working in yards or other locations where the possibility of entering between rolling equipment exists.
SOFA Safety Recommendation No. 1 provides: “Any crew member intending to foul track or equipment must notify the locomotive engineer before such action can take place. The locomotive engineer must then apply locomotive or train brakes, have the reverser centered, and then confirm this action with the individual on the ground.
“Additionally, any crew member that intends to adjust knuckles/drawbars, or apply or remove EOT device, must ensure that the cut of cars to be coupled into is separated by no fewer than 50 feet. Also, the person on the ground must physically inspect the cut of cars not attached to the locomotive to ensure they are completely stopped; and, if necessary, a sufficient number of hand brakes must be applied to ensure the cut of cars will not move.”
* Convey to employees that their own personal safety is their responsibility and that railroad management supports and encourages those employees that make safety their number one priority, regardless of their immediate assignment;
* Convey to employees that they should encourage fellow employees to perform their tasks safely and in compliance with established railroad rules and procedures.
To view the FRA’s Federal Register notice, click on the following link:
A UTU-member conductor employed by Canadian Pacific in LaCrosse, Wis., suffered a severe injury – being pinned beneath a freight car that derailed and tipped over — during a switching operation Sept. 5. The 43-year-old conductor had less than one year of service.
During the first six months of 2011, 37 serious injuries occurred during switching operations, resulting in three fatalities and eight amputations, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.
These accidents emphasize that there is no more dangerous civilian occupation than working in a railroad switching yard, where accidents too often kill, maim and end careers.
Yard safety requires situational awareness, which is a state of mind coupled with teamwork, communication and uninterrupted attention to the task at hand.
To combat yard fatalities and career-ending injuries, the Switching Operations Fatalities Analysis (SOFA) Working Group was formed in 1998.
It is a peer review group comprised of representatives from labor, management and the Federal Railroad Administration — all collaborating to bring railroaders home in one piece.
SOFA’s five lifesaving tips that can save yours:
* Secure all equipment before action is taken.
* Protect employees against moving equipment.
* Discuss safety at the beginning of a job or when work changes.
* Communicate before action is taken.
* Mentor less experienced employees to perform service safely.
The SOFA Working Group also warns of special switching hazards:
* Close clearances
* Shoving movements
* Unsecured cars
* Free rolling rail cars
* Exposure to mainline trains
* Tripping, slipping or falling
* Unexpected movement of cars
* Adverse environmental conditions
* Equipment defects
* Motor vehicles or loading devices
* Drugs and alcohol
The SOFA Working Group’s lifesaving tips are proven to reduce your risk of a career-ending injury or death while on the job.
The UTU is represented in the SOFA group by Louisiana State Legislative Director Gary Devall, Minnesota State Legislative Director Phil Qualy and Kansas State Legislative Director Ty Dragoo.
To view recent SOFA Working Group reports, and advisories related to inexperienced employees, close clearances, industrial track hazards, job briefings and mainline train hazards, click on the following link:
The UTU also has a Rail Safety Task Force charged with creating action alerts to reduce rail-employee risk while on the job.
Leading the task force is UTU Arizona State Legislative Director Greg Hynes, who is assisted by UTU Arkansas State Legislative Director Steve Evans and Michigan State Legislative Director Jerry Gibson.
The task force works with UTU state legislative directors, UTU general chairpersons, the FRA and carriers in seeking to identify and communicate best practices and techniques to improve situational awareness and keep situational awareness at its highest level.
For more information on the UTU Rail Safety Task Force, and to view its advisories, click on the following link:
WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board has updated its “Most Wanted” transportation safety improvements. Included are recommendations for improved bus, rail and aviation safety.
Following are the NTSB’s comments of interest to UTU members:
Fatigue
Airplanes, buses and trains are complex machines that require the full attention of the operator, maintenance person and other individuals performing safety-critical functions.
Consequently, the cognitive impairments to these individuals that result from fatigue due to insufficient or poor quality sleep are critical factors to consider in improving transportation safety.
Operators of transportation vehicles need to have sufficient off-duty time to obtain sufficient sleep. But duty schedules are only part of the equation. Even when an individual has enough time to get rest, medical conditions, living environment, and personal choices can affect the ability to obtain quality sleep.
Human fatigue is subtle; at any given point, the traveling public could be at risk because those operating airplanes, buses or trains, or the individuals responsible for maintaining vehicles, do not realize until it is too late that they cannot safely complete their duties because of fatigue.
To make matters worse, people frequently are not aware of, or may deny, ability impairments caused by fatigue. Just because an operator or mechanic is not yawning or falling asleep does not necessarily mean that he or she is not fatigued.
What can be done: Continued research on the manifestations of fatigue will help in further identifying mechanisms that can counter, and ultimately eliminate, fatigue.
Such research needs to recognize the unique aspects of fatigue associated with each mode of transportation, such as the effect of crossing multiple time zones or being required to work during periods of the day when circadian rhythms increase the risk of fatigue.
Fatigue-countering mechanisms must include science-based, data-driven hours-of-service limits.
The medical oversight system must recognize the dangers of sleep-related medical impairments, such as obstructive sleep apnea, and incorporate mechanisms for identifying and treating affected individuals.
Employers should also establish science-based fatigue management systems that involve all parties (employees, management, interest groups) in developing environments to help identify the factors that cause fatigue; and monitor operations to detect the presence of fatigue before it becomes a problem.
Because “powering through” fatigue is simply not an acceptable option, fatigue management systems need to allow individuals to acknowledge fatigue without jeopardizing their employment.
Bus Safety
Motorcoaches are among the safest vehicles on the road. They are rarely involved in highway accidents.
However, motorcoaches transport 750 million passengers annually, with each bus carrying a substantial number of people. Therefore, when something does go wrong, more people are at risk of death or injury. As in any traffic crash, an occupant’s chance of surviving and avoiding injury increases when the person is retained in the vehicle, and particularly in his or her seating position.
Without standards for roof strength, window glazing, and a protected seating area, motor coach accidents can be catastrophic. Even when the motorcoach remains relatively intact during an accident, passengers lacking a protective seating environment can be thrown from their seating area and killed or injured.
What can be done: Adequate standards for roof strength, window glazing, and occupant protection must be developed and implemented. These standards must ensure that the vehicles maintain survivable space for occupants during all types of crashes with significant crash forces, including rollovers.
Manufacturers are moving ahead with various seating area safety options, such as seat belts, but the development and implementation of government standards is needed to ensure a consistent level of safety across the fleet. Motorcoach interiors should be more occupant friendly in order to prevent injury in the event of a crash.
In addition, after a crash, occupants need to be able to identify exits and quickly leave the vehicle.
Commercial Aviation
Crew resource management (CRM) training is designed to improve crew coordination, resource allocation and error management in the cockpit. CRM training augments technical training, enhances pilots’ performance and encourages all flight crew members to identify and assertively announce potential problems by focusing on situational awareness, communications skills, teamwork, task allocation, and decision-making within a comprehensive framework of standard operating procedures.
Takeoffs and landings, in which the risk of a catastrophic accident is particularly high, are considered the most critical phases of flight.
Unlike the airspace above the United States, which spans millions of square miles, the runway environment is a far more limited area, often with a steady stream of aircraft taking off and landing on intersecting runways, sometimes in poor weather and with limited visibility.
What can be done: Reducing the likelihood of runway collisions is dependent on the situational awareness of the pilots and time available to take action — often a matter of just a few seconds. A direct in-cockpit warning of a probable collision or of a takeoff attempt on the wrong runway can give pilots advance notice of these dangers.
Requiring specific air traffic control clearance for each runway crossing would reduce the chances that an airplane will inadvertently taxi onto an active runway on which another aircraft is landing or taking off.
Situational awareness is also important in addressing runway excursions. Pilots need accurate information on runway conditions. Equipment should be properly set for takeoff or landing and function properly.
Pilot training and procedures should emphasize conducting distance assessments for all landings, especially on contaminated runways; training on maximum performance stopping on a slippery runway; and identifying the appropriate runway for their aircraft.
A safety warning has been issued by the Association of American Railroads after a razor blade was found “strategically placed in the eye of the airbrake release rod” on a hopper car set out at an industrial plant in Baton Rouge, La.
Although the razor blade was found and removed without injury, the AAR is concerned that vandals may have sabotaged other freight or passenger cars with the intent of causing severe injury to workers who come in contact with rail equipment.
“This type of vandalism may have been perpetrated on multiple railcars that can arrive at numerous facilities across the country,” the AAR warned.
“Employees should be advised to inspect not only air brake release rods for such traps, but also safety appliances, coupler operating levers, angle cocks and any other surfaces employees may contact,” the AAR said.
Railroads have been asked to report such incidents to AAR so that the entire industry may be alerted to these acts and assist railroad police and federal law enforcement in searching for the criminal or criminals.
Train and engine workers should remain alert to this potential danger and report to carriers if they encounter a similar instance of vandalism intended to cause bodily harm.
By Calvin Studivant Alternate vice president, Bus Department
Fatigue management was a topic of significant importance earlier this month at a National Transportation Safety Board forum I attended in Washington, D.C.
The troubling news from the forum is that non-union bus operators, employed by so-called low-cost carriers, are being forced to work too many hours, with many of the drivers clearly in violation of hours-of-service regulations.
For too many non-union bus operators, pay is so low they are compromised into working excessive hours to feed their families — and that means driving while fatigued. That’s not only unlawful; it’s dangerous.
Medical experts who study fatigue have concluded that going to work fatigued is like going to work drunk.
An effective solution is not necessarily revising the hours-of-service regulations; but rather revising the law that permits non-union carriers to avoid paying their drivers overtime rates.
At no time should low driver earnings be allowed to compromise safety, but that is the situation too many low-paid, non-union operators face.
Lack of training is another problem for non-union operators employed by carriers whose primary interest is putting a driver — no matter how poorly paid or poorly trained — behind the wheel.
Much emphasis is being placed on revising hours-of-service regulations and installing new technology such as collision warning systems and lane departure warnings. Yes, they are important in assuring safety.
Too often overlooked is the ability of carriers to intimidate drivers into violating the hours-of-service law; and the fact that new technology is not, in itself, a solution to the fatigue problem.
In my mind, it makes eminent good sense to put equal or more emphasis on assuring only qualified, alert and non-fatigued drivers are behind the wheel — drivers who are properly trained and properly recruited with competitive wage and benefits packages.
Within the UTU, we recognize this in our contracts, and it is time for federal and state regulators to recognize the issue among the growing number of so-called low-cost bus companies that put profit ahead of safety.
Take, for example, a bill currently being considered by the U.S. Senate — S. 453, the Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act. The bill would require safety improvements in construction of new buses, but missing in that bill is recognition that assuring the hiring and retention of properly qualified, fully trained and competitively paid drivers is equally important in assuring safe passenger transportation.
I will be leading discussions on these issues at our regional meetings in San Antonio and New York in June and July, and I hope as many of our drivers as possible will attend these regional meeting bus workshops.
We also will be discussing the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new rules for obtaining a commercial driver’s license (CDL) and commerical learner’s permit (CLP). Those new rules are posted on the UTU webpage.
In the San Antonio and New York regional meetings we also will be discussing opportunities for federal grants to help improve the skills of labor negotiators and encourage innovative approaches to collaborative labor-management problem solving. We will work with the UTU National Legislative Office and President Futhey to make application for a grant to the UTU.
I also call your attention to the Bus Department page of the UTU website at www.utu.org. A link has been added on that page to a recent DOT Motorcoach Safety Action Plan. Scroll down on that page and the link is in the fourth column to the right, under “Bus Safety”. The new FMCSA rules on obtaining a CDL and CLP also appear there.
Last year was the safest year in the history of the railroad industry, based on performance measures tracked by the Federal Railroad Administration.
Distractions occur everywhere in our daily lives, but when those in safety sensitive positions are distracted on the job, the results too often result in death or career-ending injuries.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Reflecting on violence against air, bus and rail members, UTU International Assistant President Arty Martin told attendees at the union’s regional meeting here June 20 that protecting the working conditions and safety of members is among the highest of UTU objectives.
Job briefings can prevent serious injuries and fatalities, says the Federal Railroad Administration in a switching fatalities and severe injury update. The FRA cites 23 fatalities that have occurred as a result of what it terms “inadequate job briefings.”
WASHINGTON – Warnings of speed violations have been issued by the National Transportation Safety Board, which urges unions, their members, carriers and the Federal Railroad Administration to work collaboratively to ensure compliance of train and engine crews with speed restrictions.
WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board has updated its “Most Wanted” transportation safety improvements. Included are recommendations for improved bus, rail and aviation safety.