JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — When it’s a bad day on the railroad, it’s a good day for Skip Elliott, the Florida Times-Union reports.
Or so goes the joke about CSX railroad’s hazardous material response team, which Elliott directs.
“The railroad is a very unforgiving place,” he said.
Elliott heads the 12-member team responsible for handling all CSX railroad emergencies that involve hazardous materials. The team focuses on accident prevention by playing host to response training, educational programs and inspections.
“The thing that really interests me about this job is you’re in a position to have a positive impact on safety,” he said.
CSX operates 1,700 trains daily in its operation area that stretches west to Memphis. In 2001, the company transported 445,000 carloads of hazardous material in this area. There were 11 train derailments systemwide and 17 cars released hazardous material. None was in the Jacksonville area.
Before Elliott came to CSX four years ago, he worked for Conrail, the Philadelphia-based freight railroad.
Since Sept. 11, Elliott’s job has had an increased focus on terrorism prevention and education.
“The challenge that we all received was to ask ourselves, are we safer today that we were yesterday?” he said.
“We’re having to prepare for a terrorist attack. It’s been an eye-opening experience. It hasn’t always been a fun experience.”
CSX benefits from Elliott’s focus on teamwork and that spreads through the entire company, said Kathy Burns, company spokeswoman. He brings an innovative approach to accident prevention to work every day, she added.
“His team is so proactive,” she said. “That approach is so important.”
Born and raised in Indiana, Elliott came to Jacksonville to work at CSX and now lives in Ponte Vedra Beach. But Elliott doesn’t always get to enjoy the laid-back beach lifestyle; he is on call for CSX 24 hours a day.
“Any time there’s a release of a material that hurts the environment, we’re there,” he said. “You never know in this business.”