NRC chairman's column: Make it safe on and off the track

The expression “Make hay while the sun shines” is the perfect description for our industry right now. Construction and maintenance work is in full swing. It’s busy, with constantly moving parts and things to think about, and that’s a good thing.

All our preparations over the winter months — training, business development, planning, procurement and our main focus on safety — are paying off with safe, efficient work.

Mental health professionals warn against bringing work home. They say that for your well-being, you need to keep a work-life balance and set clear boundaries between work and home. The last thing you want to do is to take your work home, especially when you are already putting in long days. But that’s exactly what I’m asking you to do.

I challenge you to bring home the mindset and practices you learned and use on the job every day. With our ever-busy personal lives, most of us never think about safety in the home. Unfortunately, the tendency is to kick back, relax and enjoy the time at home, especially during the warmer months. But increased outside activity and distractions — more time playing, working on the house and in the yard, running around with the kids, and travel — have contributed to driving up off-hour injuries and even deaths, especially among children.

Our industry’s regard for safety gives us immense pride, but we can’t mistake that for hubris. It’s a never-ending responsibility. Take it home and keep everyone safe.

The same approaches that protect us on the job can also protect us at home. Prevention, planning, communication and preparation are key. Please take a few minutes to put these smart safety approaches you learned at work into practice at home and pass them along to your family:

• Perform a home safety assessment. Poisoning is the No. 1 preventable injury at home, followed by falls. Make sure poisons, including cleaning products, lawn and garden chemicals, gasoline and lighter fluid, are properly stored and out of reach of children and pets. Look for potential fall and tripping hazards like clutter, toys and shoes. Check your smoke and CO2 detectors and grill. And don’t forget PPE when working outdoors, as well as sunscreen, hats and sun shirts and insect repellent.
• Adapt the job briefing mentality to your home environment. Engage with family members about what to do in the event of an emergency. Establish a plan, discuss it with your family and then perform a “test emergency” to practice what to do. Make sure you’ve identified emergency exits, safety devices like fire extinguishers, and have a list of emergency numbers and services, and understand how to use them.
• Identify hazards and plan and prepare for the worst. Prepare a kit for those “what-if” moments, such water to stay hydrated, backup medication, extra batteries, flashlights, candles, canned food, extra clothing and shoes.
• Pay attention to near-misses. These unplanned events — that don’t result in injury, hazard or damage but had the potential to — give us a second chance. Learn from them. Adjust behaviors and make repairs to avoid them in the future.
• Be your brother’s keeper. We’ve all seen it. Others around us doing crazy, unsafe things. The tendency is not to get involved. But I urge you to use your training and your instincts to say something to protect those around you from injuries.

Our industry’s regard for safety gives us immense pride, but we can’t mistake that for hubris. It’s a never-ending responsibility. Take it home and keep everyone safe. Don’t be complacent. Stay vigilant and alert; always striving to be safe.

Also: I want to take the opportunity to thank everyone involved in making the 21st Annual NRC Railroad Equipment Auction a big success. We’re particularly grateful to the NRC member companies that donated or consigned equipment and to our Auction Committee members for their tireless work.

Thanks, too, to everyone who joined us in Washington, D.C., on May 7 to advocate for our industry as part of Railroad Day on Capitol Hill. We are building valuable relationships with members of Congress, regulators and staff members that help ensure they appreciate how our industry contributes to the economic health of our nation.

“We aren’t just in this industry. We are this industry.”

Joe Daloisio, NRC chairman
The National Railroad Construction & Maintenance Association Inc.
80 M Street, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
202-715-2920
nrcma.org info@nrcma.org