While sleep scientists have established that going to work fatigued is like going to work drunk, there remains a disconnect among those who manage transportation firms. And people are needlessly dying and being seriously injured as a result. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood June 1 criticized his own Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for not sooner [...]
OSHA follows through on whistle-blower complaints
April 11, 2011
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — A Union Pacific machinist here was ordered rehired with back pay in a ruling by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) that found Union Pacific violated the worker’s rights under the Federal Rail Safety Act of 2007. OSHA ruled that in firing the machinist, after he had reported a work-related [...]
Worker input crucial to reducing rail risks
February 8, 2011
If a congressionally ordered railroad risk reduction program is to be effective, the Federal Railroad Administration must include railroad employees and their labor unions in the process of evaluating and managing the program. That is the message seven rail labor organizations sent to the FRA Feb. 8 in response to an earlier FRA notice of [...]
OSHA puts its own ‘hickory stick’ to BNSF
December 17, 2010
A UTU member will be collecting more than $95,000 in penalties assessed against BNSF by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) for the railroad’s violation of the Federal Rail Safety Act. OSHA found BNSF guilty of intimidating and harassing an injured UTU member who reported his workplace injury to the Federal Railroad Administration. The [...]
UP inaugurates “close call” project
June 17, 2010
Employees at the nation’s largest rail yard, the Union Pacific yard in North Platte, Neb., can now voluntarily and anonymously report “close-call” incidents that could have resulted in an accident, but did not, without fear of sanction or penalty from their employer or the federal government. The program, initiated at the request of the UTU [...]
Rail Safety Alert #4: Documentation
August 17, 2009
The value of detailed documentation can never be overstated. UTU members have been empowered to address the issue of harassment and intimidation though federal whistleblower protection that is written into law. This protection already has had a positive impact. Recently, an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which followed information from a [...]
