CLEVELAND, April 28 — The following is a statement from Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen National President Don M. Hahs on Workers Memorial Day.
Today, Workers Memorial Day, workers around the United States and Canada will gather together in the name of improving workplace safety. Workers Memorial Day is the day that we rededicate ourselves to the fight to make the workplace safer.
Safety is always a top issue for the BLET and we have a long way to go before achieving our goal of zero injuries and zero fatalities. In 2004, the BLET saw eight of its members die on the job. In 2005, we have already had one fatality. These tragedies are compounded by the countless life-altering and career-ending injuries that we see far too often.
Every year, 6,000 Americans die on the job and millions more are injured. In our own industry, there has been a marked increase in the number of yard accidents since the introduction of remote control technology in 2002. Through August 31, 2002, there were 984 yard accidents; through August 31, 2003, there were 1,089; through August 31, 2004, there were 1,121.
There are many factors that impact the safety of railroad workers. The lack of government regulations and oversight is one of the foremost of these factors. The Federal Railroad Administration needs to create stricter regulations that the railroads must follow under the threat of severe penalties, especially in the areas of accident reporting and remote control technology. The railroads also need to be forced to comply with already existing regulations.
Every day, we see preventable accidents occurring on the railroads. The underlying causes of these accidents need to be addressed and rectified. Rail worker fatigue is one of those underlying causes that is receiving a great deal of national attention. Addressing and overcoming fatigue is a critical step towards improving the industry’s safety record. All workers deserve a safe place to work.
Workers Memorial Day 2005 is a day on which we rededicate ourselves to the fight to make workplaces safer for all workers. We must, in the words of Mother Jones, “Mourn for the dead, and fight for the living.”