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There are many things we now are required to do than ever before. Many of them, such as "3 point", are valid ways to cut down on injuries (and others are truly stupid). However, the rate of "FRA reportable" injuries has decreased at BNSF where I work, and most other roads. A lot of this has to do with how injury claims by employees are handled. Railroads are not under state workmans comp programs. They are under a law called FELA (Federal Employees Liability Act). It's a tort, or "fault based" system where you deal directly with the railroad claims department. If a claimant does not like the offer, he or she hires an attorney who files suit against the railroad company. The companies don't like this system because the claimants usually get much better settlements than if these claims were handled thru workmans comp programs. So the railroads have realized that much lower injury rates save them a lot of money. Therefore we have many more rules and procedures to follow, and the railroads (notebly NS) are often very aggressive in enforcing these rules. Violating some of the rules wherea person could be killed or maimed can result in (at least) an automatic 30 day suspenion, or even dismissal. It's a pain in the FRED to follow all these rules, but since so many of us are paid by the hour or day (and there are no longer "early quits"), we just follow them. It slows us down a lot. Maybe that's not so bad either, because most mistakes I've made handling equipments have been when I was in a hurry!
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