Working in a rail yard puts life, limbs and career at risk more than any other job.

 Members attending UTU regional meetings in San Antonio and New York have access to a yard-safety workshop – conducted in partnership with the Federal Railroad Administration’s risk-reduction team.

 Attendees will gain more from this workshop if they first review a portion of a recent FRA report prepared by the Switching Operations Fatalities Analysis (SOFA) working group.

To read Chapter 3 of that report:

•  Go to www.utu.org
• Place your cursor on “Safety” in the drop-down menu above, and then left-click  on “Switching Operations Fatalities Analysis”
•  Left-click on the SOFA logo.
•  Left-click on the first link, “Findings and Advisories of the SOFA Working Group Volume I.”
•  Scroll to Chapter Three, “Switching Fatalities – Understanding and Prevention,” which begins at page 13.

 “This chapter will give you a good introduction to the entire report and a basic understanding of the report before you attend one of the SOFA workshops,” says UTU Louisiana State Legislative Director Gary Devall, who is one of the UTU’s representatives on the SOFA working group along with Minnesota State Legislative Director Phil Qualy and Kansas State Legislative Director Ty Dragoo.

 Also to be found on the page where the SOFA logo appears, is the first quarter 2011 SOFA update.

 All UTU members working in rail yards also are urged to review the following message on yard safety:

 www.utu.org/worksite/detail_news.cfm?ArticleID=53959