BNSF honors four Safety Employees of the Year

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
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Clockwise from top left, Jeff Ahmann, Engineering Safety Employee of the Year; Eric Henry, Telecommunications Safety Employee of the Year; Kevin Beville, Intermodal Safety Employee of the Year and Kyle Carosella, Mechanical Safety Employee of the Year.

BNSF has named Jeff Ahmann Engineering Safety Employee of the Year, Eric Henry Telecommunications Safety Employee of the Year, Kyle Carosella Mechanical Safety Employee of the Year and Kevin Beville Intermodal Safety Employee of the Year.

 

The four men were recognized for their efforts at BNSF’s annual Employees of the Year ceremony in Fort Worth, Texas. The annual Employees of the Year program is designed to recognize employees who demonstrate BNSF’s vision and values through their commitment, leadership and focus on working safely and efficiently to meet customer expectations. Their achievements positively impact BNSF customers, fellow employees, owners and the communities served by BNSF.

Of the more than 40,000 team members across the company, 52 employees were recognized during the ceremony for their individual and team achievements in 2015. An additional 40 BNSF employees were acknowledged for their safety leadership last year – all of whom led teams that worked throughout 2015 without a reportable injury.

“Our Employees of the Year program is a way to recognize our people for outstanding efforts and results,” said Carl Ice, BNSF president and chief executive officer.

Ahmann, a BNSF employee for more than 32 years, is responsible for leading a track section crew on about 50 miles of double-main track on the Southern Transcon near Flagstaff. He is charged with maintaining and keeping track in top condition. The territory is on one of the busiest rail lines on BNSF’s network.

“I have a relatively new crew with two to five years of experience, so I go over each process with them step-by-step because when the job is easier, it’s safer to do the work,” said Ahmann as he described his in-depth planning for each safety briefing. “When it comes to safety, I don’t mince words. I say it the way I see it and if I need to get someone’s attention – I will.”

Henry, who has been with BNSF since 2011, leads a crew of telecommunications maintainers who work across Oklahoma. Safety is the highest priority, as the telecom job regularly means one must scale radio and microwave towers throughout Oklahoma while facing windy conditions. Henry helped BNSF develop fall protection/bucket truck rescue training and institute qualification climbs for new employees to demonstrate they can climb 100-foot towers and show proper use of rigging and rescue equipment.

“I’m proud that BNSF really puts employees first and empowers them while always keeping safety at the forefront,” Henry said. “We can’t make mistakes because they can be life altering.”

Carosella, who joined BNSF in 2014, says two-way communications in is the best way to interact with co-workers – especially when it comes to safety matters.

“You have to be willing to take advice as well as give it,” Carosella said. “It’s about keeping everyone engaged, asking questions – and building relationships.”

Carosella works in a major locomotive servicing facility for the Northwest and the focus is on getting units fueled quickly and safely. He was instrumental in providing job safety analysis for a fuel unloader system and covering the subject with all the facility employees.

Beville works at the BNSF Memphis Intermodal facility and acts as the facilitator for the Behavior Accident Prevention Process, which has since expanded to Chicago and Seattle intermodal facilities. Beville played a key leadership role in making the roll out at all three locations successful. Beville has worked as a groundman, hostler driver and crane operator in his five years with BNSF.

“We’re all on the same team and want the same thing – to go home safe at the end of the day,” Beville said. “My job is simply to remind everybody that we all have something at stake – a spouse, family and other loved ones – so we want everyone do their job safely.”

The Mechanical, Engineering, Telecommunications and Intermodal Business Unit Operations teams each recognized an individual Safety Employee of the Year, while Transportation acknowledged the 36-member safety coordinator team. Three safety coordinator representatives attended the ceremony on behalf of the larger team. All of these honorees were recognized for their efforts to improve safety within the industry and their communities.

BNSF’s continued safety improvements – assisted by the efforts of the Safety Employees of the Year – move it closer to achieving the company’s vision of an injury- and incident-free workplace. For a complete list of honorees and a video of the Safety Employees of the Year, please visit here.

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