theconductor Wrote:
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>snip<

> And who cares what the UP's motivation is behind
> safety? They care about it and take it quite
> seriously. That's all that should matter to us
> employees.

We should all care about safety. And if UP's motives were actually to inhance safety, that would be wonderful. But they not. It's all about risk management. Every time I engage a low-level manager in a conversation about anything involving specific, tangible safety issues, he or she tries to either deflect the topic or will walk away.

> Usually we complain about how the railroad doesn't
> care about safety, then when they make a change to
> enhance safety we all whine about how it doesn't
> work for us. My favorite example are the green
> vests. The company spends 10's of thousands of
> dollars to enhance visibility (which does work
> quite well) and all the employees do is complain
> about having to wear them. It drives me crazy. You
> (we) can't have it both ways...

Ah, yes. The amazing green vests. First UP decided that new T&Y hires needed to wear them to identify them as someone needing extra supervision. Now everybody has to wear them. Any you know what? People are still getting injured. So, whether or not one wears a green vest doesn't increase safety, but it will help the railroad's lawyers defend the company in court if you file an injury-related lawsuit. It's also an avenue for managers to "test" employees and issue discipline.

Green vests, Red Zones, multi-page Job Briefing Books, weekly IDS messages, 105 (and counting) Superintendent Bulletins, 10 or more General Orders, Risk Assessment guides, and multiple safety slogans and posters, don't protect employees from getting injured or killed. But hiring employees that have the ability to follow directions and possess even a minimal amount of common sense, then training them in a logical and effective manner so they'll know what they need to do to keep from being injured or killed, and providing a safe environment in which to work, certainly would.