CN honors 143 haz-mat shippers' safety efforts

CN yesterday announced it's presenting 2013 Safe Handling Awards to 143 shippers. Launched in 1992, the award recognizes hazardous materials shippers who meet strict standards for safely handling, loading and shipping regulated products.

Winners must meet certain criteria according to the total number of haz-mat shipments for all their facilities. The award is an integral part of the Responsible Care® Program, an ongoing performance improvement initiative in which the Class I is a partner, both in Canada and the United States, CN officials said in a press release.

"This award recognizes customers who, like CN, make the safe handling of dangerous goods a top priority. CN has an unwavering commitment to safety and works closely with its customers to deliver responsibly," said JJ Ruest, CN's executive vice president and chief marketing officer. "This focus has produced meaningful results: 99.998 percent of dangerous goods hauled by CN — many of which are essential to the North American economy and communities across the continent — arrive at destination without a release caused by an accident."