Amtrak Safety Lapses Cited

Source: The Wall Street Journal.

Amtrak Safety Lapses Cited

Crash that left two track workers dead and 30 passengers injured raises new questions about the railroad’s labor relations and safety practices

By Andrew Tangel, Scott Calvert and Ted Mann
andrew.tangel@wsj.com
@AndrewTangel
@scottmcalvert
Ted.Mann@wsj.com
@TMannWSJ

April 10, 2016 8:45 p.m. ET

The April 3 Amtrak crash that left two track workers dead and 30 passengers injured—the system’s fourth incident involving an employee fatality in three years—is raising new questions about labor relations and safety practices at the passenger railroad. ... The apparent safety lapses behind the Chester, Pa., accident lay bare what some Amtrak officials and union representatives describe as a culture hampered by disagreement over how to keep track workers safe.
....

One former Amtrak nonmanagement supervisor who directed work crews until he retired in 2014 said managers sometimes pressure workers to complete tasks quickly, and to lift restrictions on train speed before a safety concern is addressed, all to keep the trains moving.

He also said managers tend to “over-inundate employees with safety concerns to the point where there were so many rules to follow, no matter what the employees did they were committing safety violations.” The result, he said, was confusion about what safety protocols are essential.

An Amtrak spokeswoman denied that managers push workers to cut corners at the expense of safety. The railroad recently issued a list of “cardinal rules”—including existing prohibitions against tampering with safety equipment, using electronic devices when working and cheating on required job exams—and warned that it would punish or fire those who don’t comply.



Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/amtrak-safety-lapses-cited-1460335522

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The article is on page A3 of the print edition. Shoutout to The Wall Street Journal. for keeping Andrew Tangel, Scott Calvert, and Ted Mann on this story.