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District of Columbia State Legislative Director and SMART Transportation Safety Team member Willie Bates has been invited by Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo to serve on the Stakeholder Review Panel for the agency’s new Clear Signal for Action safety program.

The CSA safety pilot program, funded by the FRA’s Office of Research and Development, seeks to improve railroad safety and railroad safety culture through the use of peer-to-peer coaching and feedback and safety leadership training.

In a letter to Bates, Szabo said “Risk reduction approaches like CSA allow the industry, through collaborative labor and management efforts, to take proactive measures to prevent accidents.”

Responding to Szabo’s letter, Bates said, “I accept the challenge.”

SRP meetings will be managed by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, whose mission is to improve the nation’s transportation system by anticipating emerging transportation issues and serving as a center of excellence for informed decision-making.

Besides his new challenge, Bates serves as a member of the Obama administration’s 20-person Transit Rail Advisory Committee for Safety, which drafts federal regulations for 47 separate transit systems that previously set their own safety rules and procedures. Former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood named him to the committee.

In 2011, the governor of Virginia awarded Bates the Governor’s Transportation Safety Award for rail transportation. In 2009, Amtrak’s highest safety honor — the Charles Luna Memorial Safety Award — was bestowed upon Bates, who has worked injury-free for 25 years as an Amtrak conductor, and never had a safety-rules violation. The award is named for the UTU’s first International president, who later was an Amtrak board member.

A member of the SMART Transportation Division Local 1933 at Washington, D.C., Bates serves as the local’s chairperson, vice president, legislative representative and delegate.

FRA_logo_wordsWASHINGTON – The Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) met today in an emergency session to begin consideration of additional regulatory or other safety measures following the derailment in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, Canada earlier this summer.

“Safety is our top priority,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “While 2012 was the safest year in rail history, we are constantly reviewing our work to ensure the public’s safety on our nation’s rails and value the important input we are receiving from industry stakeholders.”

The RSAC is a technical and policy stakeholder advisory group that makes recommendations to the FRA on rail safety issues, and includes representatives from every facet of the rail industry. The issues discussed at the meeting included the safety requirements contained in FRA Emergency Order No. 28 (EO 28) and the recommendations made in Safety Advisory 2013–06, both issued on Aug. 2.

EO 28 is a mandatory directive to railroads requiring them to undertake a number of immediate actions to ensure that trains transporting hazardous materials (hazmat) are secured and not left unattended. The directive also includes communication requirements. Failure to comply with the emergency order requirements will result in enforcement action.

The safety advisory contains recommendations issued jointly by FRA and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to railroads and hazmat shippers, including requiring railroads to review their crew staffing requirements for transporting hazardous material, conduct system-wide evaluations to identify hazards that may make it more difficult to secure a train or pose other safety risks, and develop procedures to reduce those risks. The advisory served as the agenda for today’s meeting. The implications as well as potential costs and benefits of new or expanded safety requirements and initiatives, including possible new RSAC tasks to implement them, were also discussed.

“Today’s meeting brings together some of the best and brightest minds our industry has to offer in order to tackle issues of paramount importance,” said FRA Administrator Joseph C. Szabo. “The dialogue will serve to build upon the comprehensive regulatory framework we already have in place, and allow us to further enhance safety by eliminating additional risk from the railroad system.”

During the meeting, RSAC members voted to accept four task statements on: appropriate train crew size; requirements for the securement of trains; operational testing for employees to ensure appropriate processes and procedures for securing trains are followed; and hazardous materials issues relating to the identification, classification, operational control and handling of such shipments in transportation. The RSAC will now establish working groups with the necessary expertise to examine each task, gather relevant facts, and develop a range of options. The recommendations of those working groups will be presented to the RSAC by April 2014.

“As greater quantities of hazmat are transported by rail and other modes, the risks increase and we have to make sure our regulations are keeping pace with market and technology forces,” said PHMSA Administrator Cynthia Quarterman. “We have to work together to identify gaps, be willing to acknowledge them and close them.”

Under current U.S. Department of Transportation regulations, freight railroads are required to undertake safety and security risk assessments and implement procedures in order to transport certain hazardous materials, including creating a plan to prevent unauthorized access to rail yards, facilities, and trains carrying hazardous materials. Railroads that carry hazardous materials are required to follow established protocols while en route, and railroad employees are subject to background checks and must complete training. Railroad training programs and operating practices are reviewed and audited by the FRA routinely and are generally designed to be progressive so that as the level of risk increases, so does the level of safety and security required.

U.S. rail-safety regulators began a “Bakken blitz” of inspections of crude oil tank cars this week as they seek to prevent a railroad disaster in the U.S. similar to July’s fatal inferno in Quebec.

Inspectors from the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration are examining rail cars moving crude from North Dakota’s Bakken region, Cynthia Quarterman, PHMSA administrator, told reporters today during a break in a Washington meeting to discuss U.S. rail safety risks.

Read the complete story at Bloomberg News.

 

RSA-header-copyAt The Right Stuff Awards dinner, the Apollo Alliance Project of the BlueGreen Alliance Foundation honors state and national leaders for their work to accelerate the growth of the clean energy, good jobs economy.
On Thursday, October 17, 2013, the Apollo Alliance Project of the BlueGreen Alliance Foundation will host the 2013 Right Stuff Awards at the Parc 55 Hotel in San Francisco. The evening will include a reception at 6:30 p.m. and a dinner and awards presentation at 7:00 p.m.
This year, California Governor Jerry Brown will receive the Government Award; Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) President Frances Beinecke will recieve the Environment Award; and International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) General President Joseph Nigro will receive the Labor Award. There are also more award announcments to come.
The 2012 The Right Stuff Award recipients included: Bob King, President of the United Auto Workers; Mary D. Nichols, Chairman of the California Air Resources Board; Larry Schweiger, President and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation; Community Awardee Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE); and Corporate Awardee General Motors.
See photos and information from past years here.
Email events@bluegreenalliance.org for more information.

The head of a rail safety group compared a widely used train tank car to the recalled Ford Pinto in urging U.S. regulators to require upgrades that would prevent accidents like a Quebec derailment that killed 47 people.

Karen Darch, the co-chairman of a coalition of communities around Chicago formed in response to a merger of railroads, said regulators dragged their feet in mandating safety improvements to the car, known as the DOT-111, amid evidence showing the tankers are more prone to rupture in a derailment than other types.

Read the complete story at the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

 

WASHINGTON – A federal panel heard comments Wednesday on the adequacy of safety regulations for railroads, during the first of two meetings that will focus on last month’s deadly train derailment in Lac-Megantic, Quebec.

Fatigue is the top safety concern among train crew members, said a representative of one of the major unions for railroad workers.

Read the complete story at The Kennebec Journal.

 

FIRELIFESAFETYWhen it comes to life and death situations, a few words can make all the difference. In Garfield Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, an ordinance passed in June calls for the inspection of fire and smoke dampers in commercial buildings every four years by technicians and contractors certified by the International Certification Board (ICB). Fire and smoke dampers keep smoke and fire from traveling through a building’s ventilation system, buying occupants time to escape and first responders precious seconds to save lives and property. If the dampers aren’t properly inspected, the chance of fatalities can increase.
On Nov. 21, 1980, 85 people died at the 26-floor MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas when a fire ignited inside the wall of the deli on the first floor. The investigation determined that the fire and smoke dampers had failed. Many of those who perished died of smoke inhalation.
Garfield Heights is the first city in the United States to require technicians and contractors to be certified by ICB.
“We’ve been developing our HVAC Fire Life Safety program, and we felt it was important to start with governmental bodies. We wanted to raise public awareness,” said Mike Coleman, business manager for Sheet Metal Workers Local No. 33. “I think we’re the first in the country to earn the ANSI accreditation.”
The ordinance in Garfield Heights, as well as in other municipalities around Cleveland, have been in the works since 2011 when the training center for Sheet Metal Workers Local No. 33 developed a mock-up to show fire marshals and building inspectors the importance of fire and smoke damper inspections. The demonstrations show how smoke travels and can be stopped with properly working dampers.
“We came in offering a solution to a problem rather than creating a problem just to get work,” said John Nesta, training coordinator for Local No. 33’s training center. “We didn’t want to overload the fire inspectors. We didn’t want to add to their work. We wanted to offer a solution to a problem. These smoke and fire dampers weren’t being inspected, and we can help with that. And give them the peace of mind it would be done correctly.”
“The mock-up is essential. The firefighters needed to see it. All the public officials needed to see it in order to understand. I think these dampers are as important as a sprinkler system in regards to getting people out of a burning building,” Coleman added. “I think it was a very easy sale. It just took some time to educate the right people. This is a no-brainer. It’s not a union issue. It’s not a non-union issue. It’s a public safety issue.”
Similar ordinances in Broadview Heights and Cuyahoga County are currently pending.
ICB/TABB is the first program to gain ANSI accreditation under ISO 17024 for certification in the HVAC testing, adjusting and balancing and fire life safety industry. ICB/TABB certification is a statement that the technician, supervisor and contractor demonstrate the highest level of professional expertise.

WASHINGTON – Veterans and disabled workers who often struggle to find work could have an easier time landing a job under new federal regulations.

The rules, announced Aug. 27 by the Labor Department, will require most government contractors to set a goal of having disabled workers make up at least seven percent of their employees. The benchmark for veterans would be eight percent, a rate that could change from year to year depending on the overall number of former military members in the workforce.

Read the complete story at the Associated Press.

 

metra_logoUnlike his predecessor, who ran a Los Angeles bus company, Metra’s new interim executive director is a veteran “railroad guy” who actually knows how to drive a train.

Donald Orseno broke into the railroad business collecting tickets, helping set up trains and checking doors on the Rock Island Railroad.

Read the complete story at the Chicago Tribune.

USA_LaborDay_300x300The Sportsman Channel and the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) are teaming up again to honor and recognize the contributions of Americans workers and sportsmen and women during the Labor Day Brotherhood Outdoors Marathon Salute to American Workers & Celebration of America’s Parks, sponsored by Bank of Labor.
This year, the marathon highlights the contributions American workers have made to our park system and how those parks desperately need help once again. Brotherhood Outdoors Co-hosts Daniel Lee Martin and Julie McQueen will provide viewers with interesting facts about America’s parks between eight back-to-back episodes of Brotherhood Outdoors airing from 1 to 5 p.m. ET. on Monday, September 2, exclusively on Sportsman Channel.
A collaboration between Sportsman Channel and the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance, this one-of-a-kind marathon provides an intimate glimpse into the lives of hardworking, blue-collar union sportsmen and women. The marathon concludes with a NEW episode of Brotherhood Outdoors with journeyman plumber, David Zinke, joining Daniel Lee and Julie in Texas to hunt monster bucks in the height of the rut.
“Brotherhood Outdoors isn’t just a great hunting and fishing series but a true testament to the American spirit,” said Graig Hale, Sportsman Channel VP of business development. “When the USA introduced its Adopt-a-Park program to assist America’s parks as they struggle with  severe budget cuts, we wanted to help by bringing more visibility to the program and showcasing how America’s workers continue to help preserve the park system that is part of our country’s heritage.”
Through the USA’s new Adopt-A-Park program, union members will volunteer their time and unique skills to renew, rebuild and restore America’s parks, whether by restoring a weathered visitor’s center, rebuilding the park ranger station or modernizing the facilities.
“There are more than 6,600 state parks in the U.S., one within 100 miles of every American, and they’re among the most affordable places for families to visit.  In a nutshell – they remain the outdoor recreation retreats for the working person and his or her family,” said Joe Elton, president of America’s State Parks Foundation.  “While those parks stimulate more than $23 billion in economic impact, they operate with less than $1 billion in taxpayer dollars annually and are continually faced with budget cuts.  By celebrating the value of America’s parks, the Sportsman Channel and Union Sportsmen’s Alliance are bringing much needed attention to the need to support and preserve our parks for future generations.”
Episodes Airing on September 2 include:
1 p.m.           Desert Dream Hunt for Deer and Javelina with a Firefighter (Michael McShane, IAFF Local 1312)
1:30 p.m.     Illinois Bucks and Tennessee Gobblers with an Elevator Constructor (David Ragland, IUEC Local 93)
2 p.m.           Florida Keys Deep Sea Fishing with a Retired Electrical Worker (Leroy Shull, IBEW Local 124)
2:30 p.m.      Illinois Waterfowl Action with 4th Generation Laborers (Larry Lucco & Dustin Ramage, LIUNA Local 100)
3 p.m.           Texas Trophy Elk with a Sheet Metal Worker (Mike Kraning, SMART Local 18)
3:30 p.m.     First Time Turkey Hunt with a Cement Mason (Matt Gehris, OPCMIA Local 11)
4 p.m.           Boca Grande Tarpon with Operating Engineers (Travis Simmons & James Dyer, IUOE Local 673)
4:30 p.m.     (NEW!) Texas Bucks in Full Rut with a Journeyman Plumber (David Zinke, UA Local 15)
 
For more information about Brotherhood Outdoors and the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance visit www.BrotherhoodOutdoors.tv.