Union Pacific’s Denver, Council Bluffs Service Units hit safety marks

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
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Union Pacific's Denver Service Unit, which includes about 1,700 miles of track across Colorado and parts of Wyoming, Utah and Kansas, improved community and employee safety in 2015.

 

The service unit reported 36 percent fewer railroad crossing incidents in 2015 versus 2014, reflecting progress educating the driving public about rail safety. Additionally, the service unit’s reportable employee injury rate improved 27 percent from 1.82 in 2014 to 1.32 in 2015, demonstrating progress toward achieving zero employee injuries.

“Employees are committed to safety as our number one priority,” said Ron Tindall, Denver Service Unit superintendent. “They are dedicated to working safely, keeping their peers safe and educating their communities how to behave safely around railroad tracks.”

The Denver Service Unit is focused on employee engagement and several related initiatives as the foundation of its safety success including Total Safety Culture (TSC), an employee-owned, voluntary process that includes training, observations and feedback. In TSC, employees compliment each other on safe behaviors, while intervening in a positive way to address at-risk behaviors. Another UP initiative is its Courage to Care, a personal pledge to safety that represents personal accountability and strengthens the degree to which each and every employee prioritizes safety as an issue. Many Denver Service Unit employees have embraced this pledge ‘go home safe’ for the sake of themselves and their families.

UP’s Denver Service Unit employees are also committed to educating the public about railroad safety. The service unit utilized employee-led quarterly awareness campaigns, coordinated community outreach with Operation Lifesaver and utilized data to direct their outreach activities to appropriate grade crossing locations.

In other UP safety news, the 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.

The service unit’s reportable employee improved 10 percent, from 0.85 in 2014 to 0.76 in 2015, demonstrating progress toward achieving zero employee injuries.

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. Like the Denver Service Unit, many Council Bluffs 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, Union Pacific launched an online railroad safety campaign on social media in October 2015. The campaign’s key message is “Your Life is Worth the Wait,” urging drivers and pedestrians to think about their personal safety first and wait at grade crossings. A series of videos depict scenarios in which a jogger, young couple and father and son are stopped, waiting for a train to pass. When the arms lift, each proceeds safely toward a spectacular future.

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 Federa Railroad Administration. Union Pacific’s railroad system includes more than 40,000 employees operating in 23 states and 7,300 communities.

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