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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.
Posner’s remarks continued)
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 One of the results was
that one of our folks was coming back from a derailment site; he was
standing next to the road when a truck kicked up a stone and hit the
back of his head. Because he was wearing his hardhat, he lived.
You can see, in the picture where the circle is, that the hard
hat was cracked as a result of the stone being thrown against it. “Un
Casco Me Salvo” means “a hardhat saved me”. This was inspired by the Iowa Interstate winning the Gold
Harriman award in May. This
incident occurred in August. I
thought this was great; he was wearing his hardhat where he didn’t
need to be wearing his hardhat. |
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 I
thought that it was indeed a splendid idea. So when I was in Peru a
couple of weeks later in September and our car flipped over in a hairpin
turn 3 miles up in the Andes and I wound upside down inside the vehicle,
because I was wearing my hardhat (in addition to insisting that everyone
wear their seatbelts), nobody was injured!
In the photo, there is a circle where I was sitting in the car.
So if that isn’t a Virtuous Circle of safety achievement, I
don’t know what is. |
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 Finally, I would like to offer some perspective.
The world in which we operate is an imperfect world and in many
cases truly a struggle. This
slogan is one we use a lot and is about struggle: it comes from Samora
Machel, the first President of independent Mozambique.
Translated from the Portuguese, it says “The Struggle
Continues.” We are
committed to taking on difficult railways in difficult countries and
making them safer–and one of the ways we do it is by associating
ourselves with professionals like Denny Miller and by taking the best of
each country and putting it together with what we bring to the table in
a way that works. And with
that I would like to thank you for the opportunity for the two of us to
be here and talk to you about our accomplishments.
I hope we have time for questions; I think we have six minutes.
If there are questions for either of us we would be more than
happy to answer them. |
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| Question-and-Answer
Session What are you doing to change the overall culture? (Mr. Posner’s response) In foreign countries we try to do it up to the point where we wind up trying to convert people into Americans; that doesn’t work in any country. There are usually local managers who are capable of effecting change and so within the context of a foreign culture the challenge is to come up with a safety program that works–as opposed to trying to do it the American Way. It is very complex, very intense and requires a lot of creativity. We have not found a synergistic model of how to consistently do it, except that if the owners ask about it all the time and can measure it and if the management is compensated for safety that they will figure it out to do it their way. That will give you the maximum likelihood that it will work. Denny has been to many of these countries and has actually implemented the Track Warrant system in many places. (Mr. Miller’s response) All the railroads that we went to where we implemented the dispatching system, in some cases there wasn’t a dispatching system installed, but just consulting on rules training and safety manuals. The most important change that we made is that we got rid of the volumes and volumes of government regulations that were issued over the years, and the old British dispatching-type systems that were very rigid, very rule oriented. All of that went out the window when we put in the GCOR. Now, if you go to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, etc. and pick up their rulebook, you will see that it is the GCOR. You’ll see the same rule and probably the same number that you see here on the UP, IAIS or BN. That was a cultural change for them. We actually had to write white papers to submit to their governments to get approval to implement this; so we know it works. Mr. Miller, this question concerns reporting. If an employee were to come to you or to their supervisor and report that they possibly sustained an injury, for example, slipped and fell and hit their knee, but it feels okay now because they walked it out; what is your policy for seeking medical attention, or what do you do at that point? (Mr. Miller’s response) The first thing we do is complete a Personal Injury Report for the documentation and we ask the employee if they want to be seen by a doctor. In some cases, the employee declines medical attention, and in other cases, we had to insist they go to a doctor. In the case of a fall incident, an employee may have pulled a muscle, experienced a sprain, or broken a bone. We don’t know, but we’re on the same side, so we check it out. We have had cases like your perfect example where an employee slips and falls down; it hurts a little bit; he doesn’t say anything; ends his tour of duty and goes home. The next day he calls in and immediately goes to the doctor. Based on what happens at the doctor’s office determines whether or not it is FRA reportable or not. |
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| Concluding
comments by Mr. Posner If there are no further questions, then I can make a plug. I don’t know how many of you are familiar with the book “Commitment to Safety” by Earl J. Currie. It is the only book that I’ve ever come across that is dedicated to rail safety. By way of background, Earl was the first Managing Director of Estonian Railways, in addition to having served at CSX, etc. This is an excellent book and the only other one I’ve seen on the subject of rail safety overseas. Even as far as rail management goes, there is not really a lot available in the form of a textbook. So it is especially gratifying to see that someone actually took the time to write a book, and a good one at that, about rail safety. If interested in ordering a copy of "Commitment to Safety," please CLICK HERE to submit inquiries directly to Mr. Currie. Again, thank you for your time, and Mr. Miller and I are honored by your invitation to speak at this rail industry safety conference. [END] |
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