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6/9/2021
Union Pacific Railroad's Heartland Service Unit has reduced its personal reportable injuries by 25% and human factor-derailments by 58% so far in 2021.
One of the unit's initiatives, called "Walk-with-Me Wednesdays," engages directly with train crews, UP officials said in an item posted on the Class I's InsideTrack web page. Each Wednesday, supervisors walk around the yard with two employees and show them how safe and reliable service impacts customers.
"For part of the day, these employees get to watch other crews perform work, which helps them see everything in a different light," said Ryan Curtis, UP's superintendent of train operations. "Then they take what they’ve learned concerning safety behaviors back to their teammates and discuss it with the people they work with every day. It really changes how the team works with others."
The safety performance success of the service unit — which stretches from Omaha, Nebraska, and Des Moines, Iowa, southwest into the Texas panhandle — can be attributed to the camaraderie among crews, Curtis said.
"Everyone looks out for each other. They know they are the first line of defense for something happening and stopping the line amongst themselves, and they’ve done a great job of that," he said. "We want to make sure we recognize people for it. It’s all about creating value with employees."