29 votes

When US railroad workers get hurt on the job, some supervisors go to extremes to keep it quiet

Posted by supported
Tags: usa, railways, work, employees, safety.workplace, management, infrastructure, author.topher sanders, author.dan schwartz, author.danelle morton, author.gabriel sandoval, author.jessica lussenhop, source.propublica, long read
https://www.propublica.org/article/railroad-worker-injuries-union-pacific-csx-cn-norfolk-southern

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Authors
Topher Sanders, Dan Schwartz, Danelle Morton, Gabriel Sandoval, Jessica Lussenhop
Word count
4732 words

3 comments

  1. [3]
    mild_takes
    (edited )
    Link
    I work in the rail industry in Canada. The working conditions here are waaaaay better than in the USA but we still see this kind of BS happen here as well. Local managers are under incredible...

    I work in the rail industry in Canada. The working conditions here are waaaaay better than in the USA but we still see this kind of BS happen here as well.

    Local managers are under incredible pressure to NOT have reported injuries. Its a situation where good managers quit, average people eventually start doing awful things, and monsters thrive.

    Edit: every one of my supervisors has done unethical or illegal things for this company except for those that are too new for me to be aware of it yet.

    10 votes
    1. [2]
      arch
      Link Parent
      I used to work for a fortune 50 company in a division that included installation, field service and manufacturing of our product. I worked an office job on the field service side. I was able to...

      I used to work for a fortune 50 company in a division that included installation, field service and manufacturing of our product. I worked an office job on the field service side. I was able to sit in on several weekly conference calls with my manager in which their safety manager was pressuring all managers company wide to find ways to classify injuries as off the clock, non-work related, or find a way to write up the employee who was injured for something (even minor like not wearing safety glasses when just opening up our equipment without tools). They very clearly wanted everyone to go through their medical insurance and not file workers comp claims. I even overheard one of the highest members of the organization say "I don't understand why they want to go through workers comp, we have good insurance!".

      I'm glad the rail industry is under a microscope. Working conditions there seem to be abhorrent. This particular issue is one that I think the majority of Americans face, even if they are not aware of it, so it will hopefully be able to get the majority of people to rally behind rail safety.

      9 votes
      1. mild_takes
        Link Parent
        That is all illegal in Canada... the last point a little less so, but still.

        in which their safety manager was pressuring all managers company wide to find ways to classify injuries as off the clock, non-work related, or find a way to write up the employee who was injured for something

        That is all illegal in Canada... the last point a little less so, but still.

        1 vote