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Yesterday, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) announced the recipients of the 2011 Non-Accident Release Grand Slam, Holden-Proefrock and TRANSCAER® National Achievement awards.
 
The 2011 Non-Accident Release Grand Slam Award winners are Canexus, Kemira, Marathon Petroleum Corp., NOVA Chemicals, Oxbow Sulphur and Valero Energy Corp. The award recognizes exemplary shippers of hazardous materials. To be eligible for the award, a shipper must be honored individually by at least four Class Is and have no non-accidental releases of haz-mat materials the previous calendar year.
 
Meanwhile, Norfolk Southern Corp.’s Michael Stiner was honored with the 2011 Holden-Proefrock Award, which recognizes a rail industry individual who has made significant contributions to haz-mat transportation safety throughout his or her career. A hazardous materials compliance officer, Stiner has been a consistent leader for both NS and the industry regarding safety, emergency preparedness and safe haz-mat handling, AAR officials said in a prepared statement. He has instructed more than 10,000 emergency responders throughout his 38-year career and has organized numerous national emergency response training events, as well as tabletop and full-scale training drills.
 
The award is named after Roy Holden, a former AAR employee and a pioneer in tank-car design and safety, and Art Proefrock, a former Hulcher Emergency Services employee who was a pioneer in haz-mat transportation emergency response.
 
The AAR also announced that BNSF Railway Co., CN, Canadian Pacific, CSX Transportation, NS and Union Pacific Railroad received 2011 TRANSCAER National Achievement Awards. The Class Is were honored for supporting the Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response or TRANSCAER program, a voluntary national outreach effort that focuses on assisting communities to prepare for and to respond to a possible haz-mat transportation incidents.