This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
10/17/2019
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) yesterday announced Danny Simpson as the 2019 recipient of the Holden-Proefrock Award, and 41 recipients of the 2018 Non-Accident Release (NAR) Grand Slam Awards.
The awards are given annually to individuals, shippers and railroads operating in hazardous material fields.
Simpson has more than 28 years of service to the rail industry, and was honored for having played a key role in the industry’s emergency preparedness and response efforts, AAR officials said in a press release. The Holden-Proefrock Award is named in honor of Roy Holden, a former AAR employee and an innovator in tank-car design and safety, and Art Proefrock, a former Hulcher Emergency Services employee who pioneered hazardous materials transportation emergency response.
Simpson is former assistant vice president of safety and emergency response at CN, where he provided direct support to the railroad’s hazardous material response program in the United States and Canada. He also served for 15 years at Transportation Technology Center Inc. in Pueblo, Colorado, where his work helped define hazardous material response standards and improved first responder training.
Additionally, Simpson has served on numerous rail safety committees — including the AAR Tank Car Committee — and partnered with federal, state, provincial and local agencies on domestic preparedness and emergency response training.
Meanwhile, AAR presented the 2018 NAR Grand Slam Awards to 41 companies that are considered “exemplary” shippers of hazardous materials. Award winners must be recognized by at least four Class Is and register zero non-accident releases involving their shipments in the previous calendar year.