Amtrak joins FRA “Close Call” pilot program
Written by jrood
February 14, 2001 The Federal Railroad Administration said that Amtrak is joining the agency's Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS), a safety pilot project that permits rail employees to voluntarily and anonymously report "close call" incidents that could have resulted in an accident or injury but did not.
"This pilot program has
the potential to transform safety and has already prevented injuries and saved
lives where it’s being used," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "Once evaluated,
we hope to make this reporting system a permanent part of our national safety
strategy involving railroads across the country."
"Amtrak’s national reach gives
us the last piece we need to make this pilot program complete," said FRA Deputy
Administrator Karen Rae.
"Amtrak is taking safety
to the next level by identifying and then mitigating or removing risk before a
serious incident occurs," said President and CEO Joseph Boardman.
Amtrak is the fourth
railroad to join the C3RS program along with the Canadian Pacific Railway,
Union Pacific and New Jersey Transit. Under the program, employees can report "close
call" incidents that did not result in an accident without fear of sanction or
penalty from the railroad or the federal government.
FRA currently requires
all railroads to routinely report a wide range of accidents and incidents.
While "close call" events are not required to be routinely reported, they could
be potentially serious. Understanding these events will help railroads and FRA
take appropriate steps to ensure accidents don’t actually occur by helping
develop and institute mitigation strategies, countermeasures and best
practices.
The cumulative results of
confidential close call reporting are being analyzed by the Department’s
Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) to determine areas of
potential risk and to develop solutions to prevent and minimize their
occurrence in the future. Preliminary analysis by RITA of Union Pacific’s close
call reporting project at its rail yard in North Platte, Neb., have already
shown a significant reduction in human factor-related incidents, making it the
#1 in safety in the Union Pacific system.
In order to participate,
Amtrak, the United Transportation Union and the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers and Trainmen each ratified an agreement with the FRA to allow
employees to make confidential reports of close calls.
The agreement covers
Amtrak employees in yards and terminals in the Northeast Corridor and the
Chicago, Miami, Seattle and Los Angeles areas. Amtrak anticipates adding its
main line routes to the C3RS program in the future, thus covering the entire
Amtrak system.
The National Aeronautics
and Space Administration is assisting FRA on this research effort using its unique
authority to protect the confidentiality of the data, as it currently does with
the airline industry and Veterans Administration Hospitals.
In addition, this pilot
project complements another Amtrak safety initiative launched last year. The
Safe-2-Safer program undertakes a detailed examination of culture and
performance in order to create and implement effective programs aimed at
enhancing leadership practices and workplace behavior to ensure operating
methods are safe and effective. The process incorporates leading and precursor
measures to address potential accidents before they occur.
