Union Pacific Twin Cities Unit marks safety improvement
Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
Union Pacific's Twin Cities Service Unit, which includes about 1,700 miles of track across Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, improved community and employee safety in 2015 with a reported 21 percent fewer railroad crossing incidents versus 2014.
Additionally, the service unit’s reportable employee injury rate improved 75 percent from 1.69 in 2014 to 0.43 in 2015, demonstrating progress toward achieving zero employee injuries.
“Employees are committed to safety as our No. 1 priority,” said Erik Erickson, Twin Cities service unit superintendent. “They are dedicated to working safely, keeping their peers safe and educating their communities how to behave safely around railroad tracks.”
Many Twin Cities Service Unit employees took the Courage to Care personal pledge, which represents personal accountability and strengthens the degree to which each and every employee prioritizes safety as an issue. In 2015, Twin Cities employees focused on “taking a minute” in every action to consider its impact on themselves, their employees and their communities.
“Investing the time to think about why they come to work each day lead employees to focus on their friends and families – the people they want to return home safely to at the end of their work day – and motivated them to work even more safely,” Erickson said.
Union Pacific’s Twin Cities Service Unit also committed to educating the public about railroad safety. In 2015, the service unit did community outreach with Operation Lifesaver, utilized data to direct their safety education activities to appropriate grade crossing locations and continued an effort to place mobile billboards near grade crossings. UP also is working with partner communities, such as the city of South St.
Paul, to complete rail safety education projects funded by safety grants.
The Twin Cities Unit’s accomplishment follows the railroad’s announcement on March 22 that its North Platte Service Unit also marked safety improvements in 2015.
Additionally, Union Pacific employees set a systemwide all-time reportable personal injury rate record in 2015, improving 11 percent from 2014 to 0.87, making Union Pacific the safest Class 1 railroad in the United States, according to data reported by the Federal Railroad Administration.
