Not A Good Year for The Class 1 Railroads or Us

Not A Good Year for The Class 1 Railroads or Us

From: Bob Harvey of the BLET

CLEVELAND, January 6, 2004 -- The following is an excerpt from the BLETs Washington Update. It was written two weeks ago by BLET Regulatory Research Coordinator Bob Harvey and was sent to all BLET State Legislative Board Chairmen.

The year 2004 can't be over soon enough for the train, yard and engineer (TY&E) crafts. The statistics for this year are horrendous! In 2004, there were more than 60,000 Class 1 railroad employees in those various crafts. So far this year, the Class 1 railroad's Locomotive Engineers, Conductors, Yard Foremen, Remote Control Operators, and Brakemen deaths number 18.

As one of the survivors of this year's rail operations, consider these statistics. You had one chance in 3,335 of losing your life on the railroad. If that isn't sobering enough consider this your odds of finishing a 30-year career and not dying on the railroad, based on 2004 data is now one in 111. That's right. For every 111 of us, one will be killed on the railroad before we can finish out a 30-year career.

The data has not been this bad since the UP meltdown of 1997 when 20 TY&E people were killed in the line of duty. The odds that year were one chance in 3,176. How does this compare to odds of death due to injury elsewhere in the U.S.? According to the most comprehensive data generated in 2001 from the National Safety Council (NSC), the odds of dying in an unintentional transportation accident were one in 6,029. That means we are about twice as likely to die in our transportation job as a person from the general public is to die as a result of a transportation accident. It is well known that transportation activity is inherently dangerous and accounts for many accidental deaths. The NSC data includes all transportation from car and truck occupants, agricultural vehicles, off-road and ATVs, aircraft, boats, etc. In a 30-year period, a person from the general public is half as likely to die in a transportation accident, as are TY&E people. The results are similar (about twice as likely) when compared to the general population death toll from all non-transportation accidents. It is relevant because this includes all on-the-job accidents.

So what is going on? How can it be that operating employees died as a result of on-the-job accidents at twice the rate of the national average? Don't we hear frequently from the industry how much safer railroading has become? Maybe there is a problem here because of the "kill the messenger syndrome." You know where if they deliver bad news, they die, and if it is good news, they live. Over the years, as I have watched the headlines hyping safety improvements and as I have witnessed the data gathering methods of the regulator, which are based solely on the railroad's reporting, I have wondered- can't there be a better way? We tried on remote control. We weren't all that successful in capturing all the accidents, but we made the railroads report more because they knew we were watching. That is what we do. We watch then we act. It is that time again. This time we must prepare to defend the foundation stone of railroad safety FELA.

The railroad's agenda to eliminate FELA is dependent on the public believing our jobs are non-demanding and virtually risk free. Sweeping the bad statistics, like the ones above, under the rug only works so long as the public remains unaware of the facts. You must continue your efforts to educate others of the role played by TY&E in preserving railroad safety, not only for themselves, but also for safety of the public. Be confident your leadership can change these negative safety numbers and preserve safety through the FELA the truth is on our side.

bentley@ble.org

http://www.ble.org/pr/news/newsflash.asp?id=4052

Posted: 01/08/05