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On Sept. 7, Burlington Northern Santa Fe concluded its four-month "BNSF Safety Team Focus" campaign, which BNSF officials believe helped the railroad reduce its total number of year-to-date injuries 11 percent compared with the same 2002 period.

BNSF also improved its year-to-date injury frequency ratio (injuries per 200,000 hours worked) 8 percent to 1.81.

During the campaign, field supervisors led detailed job-safety briefings on critical work activities — such as moving between, and getting on and off pieces of equipment, and operating cranes, and hand and power tools — spending three weeks on each topic. Supervisors also distributed behavioral checklists and conducted quizzes during briefings.

"According to our preliminary results, nearly 60 fewer people experienced an injury this year than in 2002," said Greg Stengem, BNSF vice president of safety, training and operations support, in a prepared statement. "Now, as we enter our busy fall season, it is imperative that we maintain our focus on safe production and continue our progress toward achieving an injury-free workplace."