LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS AND TRAINMEN DECEMBER 2007 PUBLISHED BY THENEWS BLET, A DIVISION OF THE RAIL CONFERENCE, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS Happy Holidays! Thousands turn out for annual CSX Santa Special Thousands of children and families train left Erwin, Tenn., on November 16 turned out on November 17 for the 65th and traveled to Kingsport, Tenn., where annual CSX Santa Claus Special. The the toys and food for the needy were annual train follows a 110-mile stretch loaded on the train. They then traveled in the rural mountain communities of to Shelby, Ky., for the night, and on No- Eastern Kentucky, western Virginia vember 17, the Santa Train began its and Northeast Tennessee, and is one run from Shelby, Ky. to Kingsport, Tenn. of Appalacia’s most anticipated holiday Country singer Patty Loveless was traditions. the special guest on the train this year. Santa himself rode in the caboose Brother Peoples said that including and was part of the team that distrib- Shelby, one of the 14 stops along the uted more than 15 tons of toys at 14 route caters to children with special stops along the route. needs. Another major player on the team As important as the locomotive en- was locomotive engineer Alf Peoples, a gineer is on the Santa Train, a team of CSX engineer and member of Division volunteers make sure everyone stays 781 in Erwin, Tenn. Brother Peoples safe along the route. worked as locomotive engineer of the “There are many BLET and UTU Santa Claus Special this year. members all along the 110 mile route Brother Peoples is a veteran Santa to keep the crowds out of the track as Train engineer, and involvement with the train arrives,” he said. the program runs in his family. The route concludes in Kingsport, “I was the engineer of the Santa Tenn., with a large parade. Train once before in 1990 on the 48th “When we arrive in Kingsport Santa waves goobye to the crowd at Starnes, Va. Photo courtesy of Ray Poteat. annual Special,” said Brother Peoples, Santa gets off the train to be in the who first joined the Brotherhood on De- Kingsport Christmas Parade,” Brother cember 1, 1980. “My father was a fire- Peoples said. man on the Santa Train years ago.” “This has been called the world’s According to Brother Peoples, the longest Christmas Parade.” • The Santa Train near Dante, Va. Photo courtesy Dustin Grizzle. Notice about BLET’s Disability & Welfare Benefit Trust Fund A summary of the annual report for The summary contains impor- the Brotherhood of Locomotive En- tant information about your rights gineers & Trainmen Disability and under the plan and the Act, which Welfare Benefit Trust Fund appears should be read and retained for fu- Crowd at Fort Blackmore, Va. Volunteers from the BLET and UTU help keep crowds at a safe on Page 6 of this issue. ture reference. • distance as the train approaches. Photo courtesy Dustin Grizzle. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen • International Brotherhood of Teamsters Page 2 Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen News · December 2007 BLET FOCUS 10 years of safety SENSE Groundbreaking safety program at CSX launched in 1997 Railroading is, and always has Following the Safety Strike, BLET been, a dangerous occupation. But the leaders proposed the SENSE safety years 1996 and 1997 were particularly program to CSX officials in Jackson- deadly for members of the Brotherhood ville, Fla. The program was immedi- of Locomotive Engineers and Train- ately adopted and gradually put into men. During that span 12 BLET mem- effect across the entire CSX system. bers lost their lives in on-the-job acci- SENSE went into effect on January 23, dents. 1998. The Union Pacific Railroad, in 1997, Now, 10 years later, safety has im- was plagued by its takeover of the proved dramatically at CSX thanks to Southern Pacific and faced a fundamen- the BLET and the SENSE program. tal breakdown in the safety of its train “I am certain SENSE has saved operations. But the problems weren’t untold lives,” said Bud Morse, SENSE limited to UP — BLET members at CSX Safety Coordinator on CSX’s Chicago Transportation also endured their Division. “Maybe it’s just one, and share of unsafe work practices, injuries maybe it’s more than a dozen. But even and death. if it’s just one, it’s worth it.” Out of this wreckage was born a program that has dramatically im- Seeing Results proved safety and has saved many Because of the daily hard work of lives. many BLET SENSE leaders across the SENSE, or Structured Employee system, the following improvements Network for Safety Empowerment, was have been achieved for BLET members: formed on the CSX property by the • Following the acquisition of BLET in response to unsafe working Conrail, from 2000 to 2006 FRA-report- conditions and fatal accidents. able injuries to locomotive engineers at This year marks the 10th anniver- CSX have improved 43 percent, with a sary of the SENSE program. Safety has combined reduction of 53% for all en- improved dramatically at CSX over the gineers, conductors and trainmen. past decade, thanks in part to SENSE. • All Locomotive Engineer Injuries, BLET members are now taking the op- including FRA-reportable injuries, im- portunity to reflect on the past 10 years, proved over 27 percent during the same in hopes of furthering the program for time period. Year-to-date in 2007, the years to come. number of locomotive engineer Injuries has declined over 50 percent over the CSX engineers in Russell, Ky. History year 2000. On August 20, 1996, CSX locomo- • During the same time frame, FRA tive engineer and BLET Member Tom human factor train accidents declined nated carrier officer. If the issue is not back to the member who conveyed the Shay was killed in an on duty accident. over 10 percent, while all human fac- resolved at the local level, the Division concern. Less than a year later, on June 7, 1997, tor train accidents (including FRA re- Contact takes the concern to their “It’s a good program,” said John BLET member Kelvin N. Winters was portable) declined over 29 percent. BLET Division Safety Coordinator. Claytor. “The way it’s set up with Teams killed in another CSX fatality. Just prior The program gives front-line loco- When the program first started in and Captains, it keeps everyone in- to the June 7 fatality, CSX had been in- motive engineers the ability to address 1997 there were three BLET Regional volved and on board.” vestigated and fined by the Federal safety concerns and recommend im- Safety Coordinators who covered huge The results of this change have Railroad Administration for violating provements through a network that ul- regional territories. These were Curtis been very positive, both in accident re- federal safety laws. timately reaches CSXT senior manage- Driggers, Richard Taylor (deceased) duction, personal injury reduction, On June 12, 1997, just five days af- ment. and Don Miller. Larry James provided elimination of unsafe conditions and ter the Winters fatality, the BLET put “Management finally recognized support from the National Office providing education to the BLET mem- its Mobilization Network into action that the people out here doing the jobs through the Education & Training De- bership on a large variety of issues. and called a system-wide Safety Strike are the ones they need to be listening partment. Their territories were so These include rule compliance and ap- at CSX. More than 4,300 locomotive en- to,” said John Claytor a Locomotive En- vast, that on many occasions multiple plication, technology, decertification gineers walked off the job to protest the gineer with 40 years service and a events occurred that required their at- events, many issues associated with lo- Winters fatality and countless other member of BLET Division 34 in Colum- tendance on the same day and it be- comotives and equipment, as well as safety violations and practices. bus Ohio. “That’s one of the reasons came very difficult to cover all activi- many Federal mandates that are why it’s a successful program. CSX ties and provide the support needed in sweeping the railroad industry that ef- knows the BLET is not fooling around the time frame established. fect BLET members. with safety.” To better serve the membership BLET SENSE has also provided and enable the BLET SENSE Coordi- input that led to positive changes and How SENSE works nators to become more involved on a improvements to certain operating SENSE uses employee mentoring localized scale, the three Regional rules on CSXT. to create the environment for an acci- BLET SENSE Coordinator positions BLET SENSE representatives over dent-free workplace, replacing confron- were converted into BLET SENSE Di- the past 10 years have been actively in- tation with communication and trust. vision Safety Coordinator’s. CSXT has volved and provided volumes of input Safety issues and concerns are 10 Operating Divisions. Each CSXT to improve working conditions for channeled through union representa- Operating Division has a BLET SENSE BLET members through SAC-P projects tives to front-line field supervisors. Is- Safety Coordinator in place. One of the and RSAC Meetings with the FRA. sue resolutions are reported back primary goals of the SENSE Division The BLET Division Safety Coordi- through the SENSE channels to em- Safety Coordinator is to communicate nator addresses all concerns not re- ployees. regularly with each BLET SENSE Divi- solved at the local level with the desig- Each BLET division is broken down sion Contact on their territory and par- nated division level carrier officer. If the into groups of 10 with one appointed ticipate in as many one on one contacts concern is not resolved here, it goes on SENSE Safety Team Captain.