UP’s Council Bluffs Unit improves employee safety in 2015

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Written by: Carolina Worrell, Managing Editor
Union Pacific Railroad's Council Bluffs Service Unit, which includes about 600 miles of track across Iowa and eastern Nebraska, improved employee safety in 2015 and recorded the group's best-ever annual safety performance, UP reported on March 29, 2016. The service unit's reportable employee improved 10%, from 0.85 in 2014 to 0.76 in 2015, demonstrating progress toward achieving zero employee injuries.

A railroad's reportable injury rate is the total number of injuries reported to the Federal Railroad Administration per 200,000 employee hours, which is equivalent to 100 employees working a full year.

"Employees have committed to safety as our No. 1 priority," said Paul Hinton, Council Bluffs Service Unit Superintendent. "They are dedicated to working safely, keeping their peers safe and educating their communities how to behave safely around railroad tracks."

Managers in the Council Bluffs Service Unit focus on consistent and timely two-way communication with the group's roughly 1,000 employees working in several job crafts, including train crew, engineering and mechanical. Many employees have embraced the Total Safety Culture initiative and have taken the Courage to Care personal safety commitment to look out for their peers and go home safe at the end of every day. Both initiatives empower and engage employees to take the safe route, while maintaining a safety focus despite Mother Nature, shifts in business levels and customer demands.

Additionally, UP employees set a system wide all-time reportable personal injury rate record in 2015, improving 11% from 2014 to 0.87, making UP the safest Class I railroad in the United States, according to data reported by the FRA. UP’s railroad system includes more than 40,000 employees operating in 23 states and 7,300 communities.

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