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San Antonio (TX) Express-News Op-Ed: UP engineers say they struggle to stay awake during long hours. By Ken Rodriguez, San Antonio Express-News, 11/21/2004 http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA112104.3A.krod.77eb3bef.html Seven train derailments in Bexar County since May, five fatalities since June, and Union Pacific is literally asleep. America's largest railroad opens a 24-hour safety command center here while some if its engineers say they doze off on locomotives. UP increases walking inspections and re-instructs managers while some of its engineers claim they are working on two to three hours of sleep. "I nodded off several times last night," one Texas engineer told me Saturday morning. "It was tough to stay awake." The engineer fears he will be fired if he discloses his name, so we'll call him Michael. Michael says he rarely reports to work having slept more than four hours. One day in the spring, he became overwhelmed by exhaustion. "I told my wife, 'I'm dreading going to work tonight, I'm afraid I'll fall asleep and kill myself or kill somebody,'" he says. "I worry about that all the time." Michael's story is not uncommon, judging from the engineers I spoke with. They said they are sleep deprived. They receive no assigned days off. They often work 70 to 80 hours a week. Some say they've fallen sound asleep on the job. Fatigue sometimes is cited as a contributing factor in rail accidents, and staffing levels long have been an issue between the railroad and the unions representing its workers. Keith Pratt, 68, a retired UP engineer in La Grande, Ore., says he fell asleep once, and narrowly missed a head-on collision with another train. "The night before, I didn't get much sleep," Pratt says, "Just two, three hours maybe." One former West Coast UP engineer-in-training quit, fearing a job that would have put her on call seven days a week. "I was told, 'You need to learn to go to work with sleep deprivation,'" the former UP employee recalls. "I couldn't believe it. I feared not only for my life, but I feared for my co-workers. I feared for the general public." Union Pacific, of course, fears bad public relations. Third quarter profits, after all, are down. The last thing UP wants is a wave of negative publicity, but the truth stings when it strikes right between closed eyes. And the truth is that nearly a dozen UP engineers and conductors across the country have told me they are fatigued, afraid and battling to stay awake. "If anyone says he hasn't ever nodded off, he's lying," Michael says. "That's absolutely right," adds one California conductor. "You are fatigued all the time." "I nodded off a couple of nights ago," a California engineer admits. "It's frightening. I'm not a disgruntled employee. I like my job. But Union Pacific needs to pay more attention to fatigue." Contrast these comments with a message on UP's Web site, which reads: "At Union Pacific, safety is No. 1." Engineers never know when they will be called. Deciding when to sleep is often guesswork. And sometimes, right when they prepare to lie down, they're called in to work. Here's the UP spin: Engineers are not allowed to spend more than 12 consecutive hours on the rails. Here's the reality: After a 12-hour shift, some engineers wait hours for a ride to get home or to a hotel. That's when their official day ends, sometimes 15 or 16 hours after it begins. One area engineer recalls working a 98-hour week. "It was 14 hours a day, seven days in a row," he says. Here's another UP spin: Its engineers are given a minimum of eight hours rest between shifts. Here's the reality: Engineers spend much of those off hours catching up with spouses, playing with children, doing chores, showering and eating. Little time is left for sleep. UP says engineers have ample opportunity for rest. The railroad has a chart showing that, in one recent 40-day work period, only four San Antonio rail employees worked more than 34 days. UP says the chart is typical of other systems in the country, though it did not provide supporting evidence. Nor did it provide any evidence to counter the claim that sleep deprivation is a problem. It is. The Federal Railroad Administration says fatigue was a possible factor in two local derailments. UP says it's working on the fatigue issue. How? It's conducting a long-term study with the FRA. UP, how about studying this: Your engineers are dozing. Your trains are derailing. People are dying. Wake up before the next engineer falls asleep and gets someone killed. ----- To contact Ken Rodriguez, call (210) 250-3369 or e-mail <mailto:krodriguez@express-news.net>. His column appears on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. San Antonio (TX) Express-News Op-Ed: UP engineers say they struggle to stay awake during long hours. By Ken Rodriguez, San Antonio Express-News, 11/21/2004 http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA112104.3A.krod.77eb3bef.html Seven train derailments in Bexar County since May, five fatalities since June, and Union Pacific is literally asleep. America's largest railroad opens a 24-hour safety command center here while some if its engineers say they doze off on locomotives. UP increases walking inspections and re-instructs managers while some of its engineers claim they are working on two to three hours of sleep. "I nodded off several times last night," one Texas engineer told me Saturday morning. "It was tough to stay awake." The engineer fears he will be fired if he discloses his name, so we'll call him Michael. Michael says he rarely reports to work having slept more than four hours. One day in the spring, he became overwhelmed by exhaustion. "I told my wife, 'I'm dreading going to work tonight, I'm afraid I'll fall asleep and kill myself or kill somebody,'" he says. "I worry about that all the time." Michael's story is not uncommon, judging from the engineers I spoke with. They said they are sleep deprived. They receive no assigned days off. They often work 70 to 80 hours a week. Some say they've fallen sound asleep on the job. Fatigue sometimes is cited as a contributing factor in rail accidents, and staffing levels long have been an issue between the railroad and the unions representing its workers. Keith Pratt, 68, a retired UP engineer in La Grande, Ore., says he fell asleep once, and narrowly missed a head-on collision with another train. "The night before, I didn't get much sleep," Pratt says, "Just two, three hours maybe." One former West Coast UP engineer-in-training quit, fearing a job that would have put her on call seven days a week. "I was told, 'You need to learn to go to work with sleep deprivation,'" the former UP employee recalls. "I couldn't believe it. I feared not only for my life, but I feared for my co-workers. I feared for the general public." Union Pacific, of course, fears bad public relations. Third quarter profits, after all, are down. The last thing UP wants is a wave of negative publicity, but the truth stings when it strikes right between closed eyes. And the truth is that nearly a dozen UP engineers and conductors across the country have told me they are fatigued, afraid and battling to stay awake. "If anyone says he hasn't ever nodded off, he's lying," Michael says. "That's absolutely right," adds one California conductor. "You are fatigued all the time." "I nodded off a couple of nights ago," a California engineer admits. "It's frightening. I'm not a disgruntled employee. I like my job. But Union Pacific needs to pay more attention to fatigue." Contrast these comments with a message on UP's Web site, which reads: "At Union Pacific, safety is No. 1." Engineers never know when they will be called. Deciding when to sleep is often guesswork. And sometimes, right when they prepare to lie down, they're called in to work. Here's the UP spin: Engineers are not allowed to spend more than 12 consecutive hours on the rails. Here's the reality: After a 12-hour shift, some engineers wait hours for a ride to get home or to a hotel. That's when their official day ends, sometimes 15 or 16 hours after it begins. One area engineer recalls working a 98-hour week. "It was 14 hours a day, seven days in a row," he says. Here's another UP spin: Its engineers are given a minimum of eight hours rest between shifts. Here's the reality: Engineers spend much of those off hours catching up with spouses, playing with children, doing chores, showering and eating. Little time is left for sleep. UP says engineers have ample opportunity for rest. The railroad has a chart showing that, in one recent 40-day work period, only four San Antonio rail employees worked more than 34 days. UP says the chart is typical of other systems in the country, though it did not provide supporting evidence. Nor did it provide any evidence to counter the claim that sleep deprivation is a problem. It is. The Federal Railroad Administration says fatigue was a possible factor in two local derailments. UP says it's working on the fatigue issue. How? It's conducting a long-term study with the FRA. UP, how about studying this: Your engineers are dozing. Your trains are derailing. People are dying. Wake up before the next engineer falls asleep and gets someone killed. ----- To contact Ken Rodriguez, call (210) 250-3369 or e-mail <mailto:krodriguez@express-news.net>. His column appears on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. San Antonio (TX) Express-News Op-Ed: UP engineers say they struggle to stay awake during long hours. By Ken Rodriguez, San Antonio Express-News, 11/21/2004 http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA112104.3A.krod.77eb3bef.html Seven train derailments in Bexar County since May, five fatalities since June, and Union Pacific is literally asleep. America's largest railroad opens a 24-hour safety command center here while some if its engineers say they doze off on locomotives. UP increases walking inspections and re-instructs managers while some of its engineers claim they are working on two to three hours of sleep. "I nodded off several times last night," one Texas engineer told me Saturday morning. "It was tough to stay awake." The engineer fears he will be fired if he discloses his name, so we'll call him Michael. Michael says he rarely reports to work having slept more than four hours. One day in the spring, he became overwhelmed by exhaustion. "I told my wife, 'I'm dreading going to work tonight, I'm afraid I'll fall asleep and kill myself or kill somebody,'" he says. "I worry about that all the time." Michael's story is not uncommon, judging from the engineers I spoke with. They said they are sleep deprived. They receive no assigned days off. They often work 70 to 80 hours a week. Some say they've fallen sound asleep on the job. Fatigue sometimes is cited as a contributing factor in rail accidents, and staffing levels long have been an issue between the railroad and the unions representing its workers. Keith Pratt, 68, a retired UP engineer in La Grande, Ore., says he fell asleep once, and narrowly missed a head-on collision with another train. "The night before, I didn't get much sleep," Pratt says, "Just two, three hours maybe." One former West Coast UP engineer-in-training quit, fearing a job that would have put her on call seven days a week. "I was told, 'You need to learn to go to work with sleep deprivation,'" the former UP employee recalls. "I couldn't believe it. I feared not only for my life, but I feared for my co-workers. I feared for the general public." Union Pacific, of course, fears bad public relations. Third quarter profits, after all, are down. The last thing UP wants is a wave of negative publicity, but the truth stings when it strikes right between closed eyes. And the truth is that nearly a dozen UP engineers and conductors across the country have told me they are fatigued, afraid and battling to stay awake. "If anyone says he hasn't ever nodded off, he's lying," Michael says. "That's absolutely right," adds one California conductor. "You are fatigued all the time." "I nodded off a couple of nights ago," a California engineer admits. "It's frightening. I'm not a disgruntled employee. I like my job. But Union Pacific needs to pay more attention to fatigue." Contrast these comments with a message on UP's Web site, which reads: "At Union Pacific, safety is No. 1." Engineers never know when they will be called. Deciding when to sleep is often guesswork. And sometimes, right when they prepare to lie down, they're called in to work. Here's the UP spin: Engineers are not allowed to spend more than 12 consecutive hours on the rails. Here's the reality: After a 12-hour shift, some engineers wait hours for a ride to get home or to a hotel. That's when their official day ends, sometimes 15 or 16 hours after it begins. One area engineer recalls working a 98-hour week. "It was 14 hours a day, seven days in a row," he says. Here's another UP spin: Its engineers are given a minimum of eight hours rest between shifts. Here's the reality: Engineers spend much of those off hours catching up with spouses, playing with children, doing chores, showering and eating. Little time is left for sleep. UP says engineers have ample opportunity for rest. The railroad has a chart showing that, in one recent 40-day work period, only four San Antonio rail employees worked more than 34 days. UP says the chart is typical of other systems in the country, though it did not provide supporting evidence. Nor did it provide any evidence to counter the claim that sleep deprivation is a problem. It is. The Federal Railroad Administration says fatigue was a possible factor in two local derailments. UP says it's working on the fatigue issue. How? It's conducting a long-term study with the FRA. UP, how about studying this: Your engineers are dozing. Your trains are derailing. People are dying. Wake up before the next engineer falls asleep and gets someone killed. ----- To contact Ken Rodriguez, call (210) 250-3369 or e-mail <mailto:krodriguez@express-news.net>. His column appears on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
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