July was a busy month for the BLET’s Safety Task Force (STF).
The BLET has received party status from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to assist with investigations into three serious incidents: a BNSF hazmat derailment and fire in Carrington, N.D.; a Union Pacific employee fatality in Melrose Park, Ill.; and a Norfolk Southern employee amputation/serious injury in Norfolk, Va.
“The BLET cannot discuss specifics on these accidents due to Party Status, but we stress that every BLET member must remain focused on their safety and the safety of their co-workers,” said Randy Fannon, BLET Vice President and Chairman of the Safety Task Force.
With a continued focus on the PSR operating model, the nation’s rail carriers, continue to place profits ahead of safety, leading to more incidents. “Since December 2022, the Safety Task Force has been a party to too many accidents,” Fannon said. “This industry must turn away from Wall Street and extreme profits and return to bringing our Brothers and Sisters home safely each and every day.”
The BLET’s STF assists the NTSB in the investigation of rail accidents, providing subject matter expertise from the viewpoint of locomotive engineers and trainmen to help determine what occurred and how to prevent similar accidents from happening in the future. The BLET became the first labor union in the railroad industry to establish a formal accident investigation team when it created the Safety Task Force in 1989.