Class I railroads are failing workers and making railroads less safe due to overly harsh employee discipline policies. That’s according to the December 20 letters from the heads of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to the CEOS of six Class I railroads.
While railroad employees are protected under OSHA’s Whistleblower statues, it hasn’t stopped railroads from retaliating against workers for reporting workplace injuries or potential safety violations.
“All harassment or intimidation of any employee that is calculated to discourage or prevent the employee from receiving proper medical treatment or from reporting such accident, incident, injury or illness will not be permitted or tolerated,” wrote FRA Administrator Amit Bose and OSHA Assistant Secretary Douglas Parker — both of whom spoke at BLET regional meetings in the summer of 2024.
Additionally, Bose and Parker expressed concern over railroad incentive programs, which reward managers based in part on low numbers of injury reports among the employees they supervise. These types of incentive programs have a “chilling effect” on employees’ willingness to report work-place injuries and obtain medical treatment. “For instance, through its relationship with OSHA, FRA has learned of circumstances such as an employee being told by a supervisor to forego days off as ordered by their doctor and/or forgo prescription medication in exchange for light duty while they recover and being threatened with disciplinary action if they did not. This is unacceptable and unlawful,” Bose and Parker wrote.
They conclude their joint letter by urging the Class I CEOs to join the FRA’s Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS). “In contrast, incentive programs that reward employees for reporting near misses and safety hazards improve the overall safety and functioning of the workplace. We strongly encourage you to join FRA’s Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS), which is designed for this very purpose, so that all of your employees can report their close calls without fear of discipline,” Bose and Parker wrote.
Identical letters were sent to: Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena, CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs, CPKC CEO Keith Creel, Norfolk Southern CEO Mark George, BNSF CEO Katie Farmer, and CN CEO Tracy Robinson. A PDF of the Vena letter is available on the BLET National Division website.
As information, a PDF flyer titled OSHA Whistleblower Protections for Railroad Workers is also available on the National Division website.