Short Line Safety Institute unveils best practices guide

The Short Line Safety Institute (SLSI) has developed "Strong Safety Culture Best Practices," a new resource developed for short lines.

The new guide is based on data collected from more than five years of the SLSI's flagship program, the Safety Culture Assessment. The assessment model uses the 10 core elements of a strong safety culture as defined by the U.S. Department of Transportation Safety Council.

In the document released today, SLSI provides best practices in each of the 10 elements, along with examples of the practice in action and an explanation of the rationale behind it. In many cases, downloadable tools and additional resources are provided.

"The data analyzed across completed Safety Culture Assessments, coupled with the 500-plus years of railroad safety experience on our team, has identified some clear actions in each of 10 core elements to enhance a railroad's safety culture," said SLSI Executive Director Tom Murta in a press release. "The easy-to-use best practices guide will enable short lines to continuously evaluate safety culture across all of these metrics."