Messrs. Miller's & Posner's remarks at Safety Conference, St. Louis, Nov. 2004 (cont.)

SAFETY - A Global Perspective


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SPEECH DIRECTORY: SAFETY AT IAIS History New Plan Summary Results Post 9/11 SAFETY OVERSEAS Local Conditions Safety Regulation Definition of Incidents Varied Needs Diverse Environments Results RDC's Philosophy CONCLUSION Q & A SESSION CONCLUDING COMMENTS	(Mr. Miller's remarks continued) Safety at IAIS - New Plan In 2002, I implemented a policy of “Railroading 101”— back to basics. This policy consisted of the following: Investigate all personal injuries and document it. Enforce the GCOR (General Code of Operating Rules) with efficiency tests of a minimum 30 per month, per supervisor. Enhance training for engineers; rides, train handling, train makeup, etc. (and hired 3 Road Foremen). Listen to issues brought forth and do something about it, such as: Customer sites; scrap yard footing, scrap over sides of car, banding, etc. Walking conditions; bridge railings, bad footing, culverts, etc. Equipment; bad order hand brakes, oil on engines, etc. Job briefings Elimination of outside consultants. (I will come back to this later.) Changed out supervision that were not on board with safety and reduced committees. The results of this Plan were as follows: We eliminated 2 layers of safety committees. Complaints were minimal; in some cases employees could not come up with a complaint as we handled issues very quickly. Discipline issued went down substantially, as employees complied with rules. Yard incidents subsided ($84,000 in total derailments expense for 2003). Zero FRA reportable injuries in 2003. And this was after a substantial reduction in 2002, making IAIS the “Most Improved” railroad two years in a row. Today our employees know we are serious about safety; we respond to their issues; and our supervision is on the lookout for unsafe conditions. Our customers are also doing better with their properties and are understanding when it comes to safety.
	Safety at IAIS - Summary It has been said that there is an element of “luck” when it comes to injuries, and whether they are reportable or not. Anyone who tells you that all injuries are avoidable has never been: Stung by a bee and had an allergic reaction requiring a prescription. Bitten by a spider and required by the doctor to have a prescription due to swelling and possible infection. (Even though he did not fill the prescription.) Obtained bursitis in an elbow and lost 3 weeks of work over “something” that definitely happened while working. Obtained arthritis at age 64 and “knows” that it happened exactly at a certain date and time while at work. These incidents all happened at IAIS, two of them this year, and they were both reportable. So, yes, there is some luck involved, but also a lot of hard work. We have gone from 71 reportable injuries in the years 1996–2000 to 17 from 2001–2004 with Zero in 2003 (Graph A).
	IAIS Safety History - Results	Top
	Graph A - FRA Reportable Injuries
	Graph B - Derailments
	Earlier I had mentioned eliminating outside consultants. Most of these have programs or processes that do work; however, unless you and your employees “believe” in safety and live it every day at work, none of the so-called programs, processes, or gimmicks is going to work. If you and your employees truly believe in safety, then you probably are operating a safe company and don’t have a need for outside help. Too often over the years I have heard someone say that they hired a firm to come in and teach safety to their employees. I do not believe you can have an outside party come in, give you a lecture, read some literature, and somehow you become automatically safe. I have been on the receiving end of the Gold Harriman twice, Bronze once, and Most Improved once. Safety takes a proactive application of training, monitoring, and discipline and I know this works. Thank you.

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