Harriman and Hammond awards to be 'retired'; rail industry to develop programs that focus on 'best-practice' sharing, AAR spokeswoman says

The E.H. Harriman and Harold F. Hammond rail safety awards will be retired after their next presentation in May, according to a spokeswoman for the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

In the award programs place will be a yet-to-be-determined program that will encourage the sharing of best rail-safety practices across the industry, said Patti Reilly, AARs senior vice president for communications.

The awards program is being retired in order to move away from an individual- and company-centric approach that recognizes winners to one that emphasizes a team approach to safety practices, said Reilly.

The decision was made to retire the program after the next Harriman and Hammond awards event, which will be held May 16, and recognize the best in railroad safety during 2011.

People felt that it was important that they retire Harriman and Hammond and begin to develop new programs that focus on the best rail safety practices, Reilly said. And, knowing that the industry is safe only when everyone is safe, those are practices that will be shared across the industry.

What the new program might look like has yet to be determined. One possibility: creating an annual summit at which rail industry representatives meet to exchange information on best safety practices.

The industry realized that there has been a profound change in railroading since 1913, Reilly said, referring to when the Harriman awards were founded. We believe it would be a really good idea to change the way safety practices are recognized so we can continue to improve in what we think is a critically important area.

Founded by the late Mary W. Harriman in memory of her husband, railroad pioneer Edward H. Harriman, the Harriman awards recognize railroads that achieved the lowest casualty rates per 200,000 man-hours. The awards are administered by the E.H. Harriman Memorial Awards Institute with support from the Mary W. Harriman Foundation. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) documents all data.

The Harold F. Hammond Award has recognized an individual railroad employee who demonstrated outstanding safety achievement in the preceding year. Established in 1986, the award was named for the late Harold F. Hammond, a former Transportation Association of America president who served many years as chairman of the Harriman awards selection committee.

The awards have helped propel the industry to incredible heights in improved railroad safety, Reilly said, citing FRA figures that show that between 1980 and 2010, train accident rates fell by 77 percent, the rail employee injury rate fell by 82 percent and the grade-crossing collision rate fell 81 percent.

Julie Sneider

Rails to scrap controversial safety award

January 10, 2012

It has taken more than a decade for railroads to connect the dots and recognize that their annual Harriman Safety Award contest, which tied managerial bonuses to low reportable injury rates among workers, was creating an unfortunate incentive for supervisors to intimidate and harass workers not to report minor on-duty injuries.

This week, the Association of American Railroads said it would send to the dust bin of history that controversial annual safety award.

Indeed, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) observed in 2011 that one railroads culture of intimidation and harassment permitted that railroad to maintain the appearance of an exemplary safety record. Of another railroad, OSHA said that the carrier had created a climate of fear instead of a climate of safety, and that the railroad must take immediate steps to change this unacceptable pattern of retaliation.

For years, the UTU collected file drawers full of verified complaints from members of carrier intimidation and harassment following an on-duty injury. An attempt was made in collaboration with the Federal Railroad Administration to convince railroads to change the formula for judging carrier safety records so as to discourage employee intimidation and harassment.

When that effort failed, the UTU turned to Congress the result being a section of the Federal Rail Safety Act of 2007.

The laws purpose is to protect rail workers from retaliation and threats of retaliation when they report injuries, report that a carrier violated safety laws or regulations, or if the employee refuses to work under certain unsafe conditions or refuses to authorize the use of any safety related equipment.

The law also prohibits an employer from disciplining an employee for requesting medical or first-aid treatment, or for following a physicians orders, a physicians treatment plan, or medical advice.

Following passage of the law, and with assistance of UTU Designated Legal Counsel, evidence of intimidation and harassment of workers by railroads was delivered to OSHA, which began imposing significant fines and punitive damages.

The AAR said, in announcing cancellation of the Harriman award beginning in 2013, that a yet-to-be-determined program will be created in its place to encourage the sharing of best rail-safety practices across the industry.

Said UTU National Legislative Director James Stem: We congratulate the industry for moving in the right direction. A much less controversial process one by which labor, management and our suppliers agree rewards safe operations will benefit the entire industry. We look forward to turning the page and working positively with the industry in this effort.