RAIL SAFETY AND SECURITY

Locomotive Cab Conditions:

The “Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commissions Act of 2007,” designed to provide more safety and security on our nations transit systems, did make some improvements for the rail industry; however, the death of a CSX conductor who was shot and killed in the cab of a locomotive during a robbery attempt in June 2010 demonstrates that not much progress has been made in the area of locomotive in-cab security and our operating crews remain in grave danger. The engineer on the train survived, but was also shot and seriously injured. The incident occurred just after the release of the Teamsters High Alert 2 rail security report, which revealed that top U.S. rail carriers have failed to make significant progress toward closing the security gaps that put at stake the safety of rail workers and communities across the country. The report disclosed that 51 percent of train crews surveyed had no way to lock or secure the cab of their locomotive against unauthorized access while occupied, and 73 percent reported that they had no way to lock the cab while it was unoccupied.

The High Alert 2 rail security report was the second such report by the Teamsters, both of which are the result of studies conducted by the Teamster Rail Conference to gain insight from rail workers into the actual safety and security issues faced by those employees on a day-to-day basis. The High Alert 2 Rail Security Report can be viewed at: http://www.ble-t.org/pr/pdf/ highalert2complete.pdf.

The BLET and the UTU have called on the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to improve locomotive cab security and establish climate control regulations in locomotive cabs. In their joint comments filed on March 14, 2010, the unions expressed a number of safety concerns in response to the FRA’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Locomotive Safety Standards that was filed in January of this year.

In their comments about locomotive cab temperatures, the unions explained the negative effect of extreme heat as it causes fatigue and lethargy, slows reaction time, and therefore diminishes safety. They argued that the rule should require newly purchased or reconstructed locomotives, as well as those locomotives already equipped with air conditioning, to be capable of maintaining a climate between 60 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. With regard to cab security, the unions pointed out that the lack of air conditioning in hot weather causes crews to choose between their safety and their security. Crews must be able to close, lock, and seal the doors and windows of the cab in order to protect themselves from the risk of invasion of the operating compartment by unauthorized persons.

Section 405 of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 authorized studies of the locomotive cab environment and empowered the FRA to regulate on this issue based on its findings. On March 17, 2011, BLET National President Dennis Pierce testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroad, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials at a hearing on “Federal Regulatory Overreach in the Railroad Industry: Implementing the Rail Safety Improvement Act.” In that testimony, President Pierce explained to the Committee the relationship of cab temperatures and cab security that occurs when crews are assigned to a locomotive with no functioning air conditioning. President Pierce pointed out that the FRA is considering establishing an upper temperature limit in locomotive cabs and that “the carriers continue to resist movement on this important health and safety issue.”

With regard to the issue of locomotive seats, the BLET and UTU have expressed their extreme disappointment to the FRA for not including anything about locomotive seats in their Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Locomotive Safety Standards. The unions pointed out that “improper and unsafe seats and seat securements have caused many injuries and illnesses to operating crews” and asked the FRA to “accept the scientific facts and offer requirements for specifications of locomotive seats on occupied locomotives.”

Hazmat Contamination Risk: The number of damaged or leaking hazardous materials containers shipped by rail has more than doubled in the past four years. The FRA routinely grants special permission for railroads to transport damaged hazmat containers on mainline tracks to repair facilities. The number of requests from railroads has been steadily increasing over the last 16 years, possibly subjecting rail workers to an unacceptable risk of exposure.

On March 24, 2011, the BLET and six other rail labor unions jointly petitioned the Federal Railroad Administration for enhanced safety standards to protect rail workers and the public from hazmat contamination. The unions are that rail workers who will be working in the vicinity of damaged containers transporting hazmat receive advance notice of such assignment, and that protective gear, including emergency escape breathing apparatus (EEBAs) be provided. The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 required that the FRA publish regulations establishing EEBA Standards. In an April 7, 2011, statement of BLET National Vice President Steve Bruno to the House Subcommittee on Railroad, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials, Vice President Bruno expressed the unions’ concerns in this matter and explained the dangers posed to rail workers and the public. He stated that the FRA, in its proposed rulemaking in 2010 required that train crew members on trains carrying toxic by inhalation (TIH) materials be provided with EEBAs, but that the railroads have claimed that complying with this regulation is simply too expensive. Vice President Bruno stated that “once a railroad has an adequate supply of EEBAs available, it will be of little burden to the railroads to provide all employees who are transporting asphyxiants with EEBAs.”

Cell Phone Ban:

Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) regulations on cell phones and other electronic devices went into effect on March 28, 2011. The new rule enforces the same ban on personal electronic devices that was established in Emergency Order 26: the use of electronic devices, including cell phones, while engaged in any safety sensitive duty is strictly prohibited. Electronic devices may be used by crew members while deadheading provided that they are not being used in the cab of the controlling locomotive and such use does not compromise the safety of any operating employee including themselves, and does not interfere with the performance of the safety duties of any operating employees. Use of a camera to take a photograph of a safety hazard or a violation of rail safety law, regulation, order, or standard is allowed only if it is a stand-alone camera and not part of a cell phone or other electronic device, is not being used by a locomotive engineer on a moving train, and is turned off immediately after use.

BLET National President Dennis Pierce has warned members nationwide that if they do not comply with the FRA regulations on cell phones and police themselves, they are subjecting themselves to the possibility of the installation of inward-facing cameras on all locomotive cabs. Additionally, the General Chairmen have advised that if an employee is caught with his or her cell phone on, the discipline charge against them is indefensible. In other words, if it is discovered that a crew member’s cell phone was on while the train was moving, that employee is subject to being permanently fired. Crew members’ cell phones must be turned off and stowed any time they are on the train. In a recent fatal rear-end collision involving two BSNF trains, not only were the cell phone records requested by the company for the crews on the trains involved in the collision, but so were the records of the two preceding train crews and the two trailing train crews.

A one-page flyer from the FRA summarizing the new regulations can be found at http://www.ble-t.org/pr/pdf/FRA_Electronic_Devices_Chart.pdf.

Training for Emergency Response Teams:

It is no secret that our nation’s rail system remains vulnerable to terrorist attack. Rail workers, as well as track and bridge workers, do not have adequate security training to know how to thwart a train hijacking, an attack on critical infrastructure, or the planting of a bomb on freight or passenger train cars. Rail lines routinely run through our communities carrying hazardous materials, yet freight rail corporations have failed to provide fire and rescue operators with real-time information about the cargo that is traveling through their cities and towns. Efforts are being taken to ensure that law enforcement and other first responder agencies are trained to respond to any threat or incident on the nation’s railways.

Operation ALERTS (Allied Law Enforcement for Rail and Transit Security) is a collective effort involving law enforcement officers from Amtrak, the Transportation Security Administration, and more than 100 federal, state, local railroad and transit police agencies, to enhance the readiness and communication capabilities of first responder agencies that will protect and defend the railways during any type of emergency or potential threat. Operation ALERTS exercises have been conducted during the last couple of years to evaluate the security of railways in some of the busiest passenger rail corridors in the nation. Activities such as heightened station patrols, increased security presence onboard trains, explosives detection canine sweeps, and random passenger bag inspections at unannounced locations are part of the coordinated effort.

TSA's Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response Teams, or VIPR Teams, are also operating at and around multiple rail stations in random, unannounced deployments. These teams monitor for surveillance, detecting suspicious behaviors, and supporting random security inspections with mobile explosives detection equipment. Their main focus is to deploy TSA resources to augment local security and law enforcement capabilities and foster deterrence through coordinated actions with local transportation entities and law enforcement.

The exercises that have been conducted by these teams in recent years are being reviewed to identify lessons learned as part of a continuous improvement approach, including evaluation of requirements and tactics for effective response to any possible threats or incidents within the railway system.