Safety is Union Pacific's No. 1 priority. Nothing is more important than the well-being and security of our employees and the people who reside in the communities where we live and operate. Safe operations also are critical to meeting our customer commitments. We invest significant resources in training employees, developing innovative technologies and increasing railway safety awareness. Our ultimate goal is to achieve annual safety records on our way to zero incidents, building a safer America.
Operating Safely
Public Safety
UP CARES
Union Pacific's public safety program is UP CARES, the Union Pacific Crossing Accident Reduction Education and Safety initiative. Through UP CARES, we host events across our 23-state network to educate pedestrians, motorists and truck drivers about how to stay safe around railroads and grade crossings. In 2014, we held 13,580 events, reaching more than 629,500 members of the public.
UP CARES SAFETY GRANTS
UP CARES awarded grants ranging from $500 to $5,000, providing financial support for community-owned railroad safety initiatives in towns where Union Pacific operates. Organizations and programs receiving these grants included youth education activities, school or community safety days, community safety blitzes and grade crossing educational enforcement activities.
Employee Safety
Performance Overview
Union Pacific's 2014 annual employee safety performance was the best in company history. Employees lowered the reportable injury rate to 0.98 injuries per 200,000 employee hours – equivalent to 100 employees working a full year – breaking the previous record established in 2012. The 2014 rate represents an 11 percent reduction from the 2013 reportable rate of 1.10 and demonstrates our employees' dedication to reducing injuries and achieving the company's goal of zero injuries.
Courage To Care
In 2012, Union Pacific introduced the "Courage to Care" pledge. It represents a culture of safety and personal accountability and strengthens the degree to which each and every employee prioritizes safety as an issue. The pledge reads:
I have the courage to care. Worn with a lion's pride, it means those I work with will have my back, and I will have theirs. I pledge to shield myself and my team from harm. I will take action to keep them safe by fixing an unsafe situation, addressing an unsafe behavior or stopping the line. In turn, I will have the courage to accept the same actions from my coworkers, who care enough to correct my path. We wear this badge out of respect for each other and those who have gone before us. On my watch, we will all go home safe to our families every day.
Throughout the year, we conducted systemwide safety "stand down" meetings that focused on the role Courage to Care plays in employees' lives. Normal operations are suspended so in-depth safety conversations can take place. A meeting this fall included a video, "Courage to Care: On the Way to Zero," featuring employees in Los Angeles and El Centro, California, discussing the importance of identifying risk and returning home safely to their families.
Total Safety Culture
Total Safety Culture (TSC) is a voluntary employee-led initiative that teaches employees safe behaviors while providing observations and feedback. TSC directly empowers our union employees to address at-risk behaviors and receives the full backing of senior management.
Injuries per 200,000 employee hours
From left are Cameron Scott, Union Pacific executive vice president-operations, Huges and his wife, Nikki, and Lance Fritz, Union Pacific president and CEO.
Kenefick Safety Award Winner
John Hughes received the 2014 J.C. Kenefick Safety Award, Union Pacific's highest safety honor. Hughes was integral to the Houston Service Unit achieving a 40 percent reduction in human factor incidents.
He inspired co-workers on the Houston Service Unit through employee engagement and training programs, creating a cohesive family that holds safety above all else.
Hughes delivered more than a good safety strategy; he helped change the way people think about safety. As a result, the service unit returned more than 60,000 Total Safety Culture (TSC) observation cards.
His team also established "intensity rides," a process to identify risk and then apply TSC to help eliminate or mitigate it; developed goal setting cards for TSC participants; created a contest among teams and managers to see which group could complete the most TSC observations; taught TSC and job briefing classes to new hires, and helped design a new-hire safety training course.
Crude by Rail
We understand the risks associated with crude-by-rail are a real concern and take our responsibility to ship crude oil, as mandated by federal law, seriously. We follow strict safety practices, and in many cases, exceed federal safety regulations.
Union Pacific works collaboratively with other railroads, customers and the U.S. Department of Transportation to maximize crude-by-rail safety without compromising operational efficiencies necessary to make America run smoothly. This extended to participating in the railroad industry's crude-by-rail voluntary safety operating practices announced Feb. 21, 2014, by U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. These voluntary safety measures included train speed slowdowns through Department of Homeland Security-designated High Threat Urban Areas, increased track inspections, enhanced braking systems, expanded use of rail traffic routing technology to include crude oil, intensified community relations programs, and stepped-up emergency response capability planning and training.
In 2014, Union Pacific joined other railroads to help first responders with community-specific education needs, contributing $5 million to develop a specialized, comprehensive crude-by-rail training and tuition assistance program.
In 2015, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issued an Emergency Order and Safety Advisories addressing operating practices affecting high hazardous flammable materials transport. The issuances were followed by tank car regulations released by the Department of Transportation (DOT). Union Pacific fully supports efforts to make the rail system even safer. The DOT rules are a step in the right direction, but some of the changes will have far-reaching negative consequences for the railroads, our customers and the broader economy. For instance, Union Pacific believes electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes do not provide significantly greater safety benefits than distributed power, especially on the terrain through which our trains operate. For updates, visit our Crude by Rail Web page.
AskRail Response Tool
Union Pacific is introducing first responders on our rail network to AskRail,™ a near-real-time mobile application produced by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).
Union Pacific's Hazardous Materials Management (HMM) team members work with local emergency responders along Union Pacific rail lines to grant access to the AskRail app. Once first responders have downloaded the AskRail app onto their mobile device, they can enter the identification number located on a tank car to identify the car's contents. AskRail supplements the existing response process Union Pacific's HMM group uses to collaborate and communicate with emergency responders during a hazardous materials-related incident.
Issue in Focus: Derailment Prevention
At Union Pacific, we take our responsibility for safe, reliable, efficient service seriously, and that means using all tools at our disposal to prevent derailments.
Employees engaged in continuous improvement, risk identification and mitigation, work standardization, variability elimination, Total Safety Culture and other initiatives are identifying the root causes of derailments, addressing potential risk, proposing solutions and consistently enhancing processes to improve safety and service. As a result of these efforts and our innovative technological solutions, these incidents are becoming increasingly rare. Derailments decreased by 7 percent from 2013 to 2014, from 3.24 reportable derailment incidents per million train miles to 3.00, and by 38 percent over the last 10 years. Our goal is to have zero derailments.
Some of the specific ways that Union Pacific and our employees are reducing derailments include:
Houston Reduces Human-Factor Incidents
Geometry Cars
Wind Monitoring Devices
High-Definition, High-Speed Imaging Systems
