UNITED TRANSPORTATION UNION

LOCAL 807

Thomas F. Moore, Jr.

Secretary / Treasurer

4913 W. Manatee Drive

Tucson, AZ 85742-9554

C-520-975-0801, H-744-0381

mooretjr@aol.com

December 09, 2008

To: UTU Local 807 Members

Re: January 2009 Regular Meeting

Regular Monthly Meeting scheduled to be held, Tuesday, January 13, 2009 @ 10:00am. The meeting will be held @ the IBEW Hall 750 S. Tucson Blvd. 17^th Avenue & Tucson Blvd. South side of the building.

Nominations will be taken at this meeting for vacancies for Vice Local Chairman for 1 position UTU-E and 1 position UTU-C&T in Yuma. If more than one person is nominated the ballots will be counted at the regular meeting in February 2009.

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To stay informed go to WWW.UTU.ORG

FRA PROPOSES NEW REPORTS ON ILLNESS, INJURY

WASHINGTON - Railroads may soon be required by the Federal Railroad Administration to report new and more detailed information about injuries and illness on rail property, as well as highway-rail grade-crossing incidents, passenger-railroad injuries and fatalities (involving passengers), and attempted suicides by motorists and pedestrians.

The FRA will accept public comments on the proposed new reporting requirements until Nov. 10.

"Having the most accurate and complete information available for analysis is critical to ensuring appropriate and effective safety oversight," said FRA Administrator Joseph Boardman, in announcing the proposed new reporting requirements.

Among the proposed reporting requirements are:

Railroads would be required to report all injuries and illnesses that appear or occur anywhere in the railroad-operating environment, regardless of cause, to prevent premature determinations that such conditions are not rail-related.

Railroads would be required to notify the National Response Center of any highway-rail grade crossing fatality occurring within 24-hours of the incident and provide greater detail about grade crossing incidents such as whether a locomotive-mounted video recorder captured the event.

Railroads would be required to report for the first time suicides and attempted suicides to help FRA better quantify such incidents and develop mitigation strategies.

Passenger railroads would be required to identify whether a locomotive was pulling or pushing a train at the time of a reportable accident or incident as well as report for the first time incidents in which a rail passenger is hurt or killed when boarding or alighting a train due to any gap that exists between railcars and station platforms.

The FRA e specially encourages those commenting to focus on:

· What additional information might be gathered to address the causes of grade-crossing accidents and whether railroads should provide longitude and latitude data for rail trespass incidents to assist in identifying hot spots for such activity.

· Whether railroads should report certain accidents and incidents directly to the FRA in addition to notifying the National Response Center.

To read the Federal Register notice, click here.

07/01/08 - Immediate medical care after an injury

We have recently become aware of several instances where railroad supervisors have held rail employees from immediate medical care for extended periods after an injury. Sometimes the excuse is waiting for safety directors; other times it is to obtain an accident report; other times it is to perform a re-enactment of the accident. Federal Railroad Administration regulation 49 CFR, Part 225.33 prohibits railroads from interfering with an employee's right to proper medical treatment after an injury. If you or your coworkers are injured, you have the right to demand immediate emergency care via ambulance or otherwise. SOMETIMES YOU MUST DEMAND THIS RIGHT IN ORDER TO RECEIVE IT.

If you are injured, immediately request medical treatment at an emergency facility. If you are denied, advise railroad officials of the FRA requirements and immediately contact your local chairman and State Director. Only YOU can decide whether your injuries are too severe for a delay in treatment. If you are in pain and can't intelligently complete forms or answer questions, then don't try. Talk to your local chairman or state director and let them handle it. You may also call us for advice and assistance

Cordially,
Mark Allen,
UTU Designated Counsel

06/30/08 - A PAPER TRAIL LEADS TO SAFETY
By Mike Futhey - International President
We have been receiving numerous reports of members disciplined following an on-the-job injury. Too often, the injury was the result of a carrier’s failure to correct its own safety hazard or safety violation.
But if there is no paper trail of the safety hazard or carrier safety violation prior to the injury, the injured employee can end up becoming a victim for a second time through discipline.
How do you keep from becoming a victim twice? You write a detailed letter to the carrier describing every safety hazard and every violation of FRA safety regulations encountered – but you must also provide a copy of that letter to your local legislative representative and your state legislative director.
By so doing, you have created a paper trail, preventing the carrier from later disavowing knowledge of the safety hazard or safety violation.
Beyond protecting yourself against arbitrary carrier discipline following an injury, here are three other reasons why you should write that detailed letter:
•The Federal Railroad Administration has a limited number of safety inspectors. They cannot, on their own, find every carrier safety violation. When state legislative directors receive copies of your letter to the carrier, they can refer those safety violations to the appropriate FRA official. By collecting those letters, state legislative directors can also identify multiple violations that should be reported to the national legislative office for handling at the highest levels of the FRA.
•State legislative directors work with lawmakers at the state and federal level to craft legislation leading to new and improved safety regulations. In Illinois, for example, State Legislative Director Joe Szabo convinced the legislature to pass a rail-safety bill based on evidence presented by UTU members about safety hazards. The current federal rail safety bill being considered by Congress includes provisions that would not have been embraced by lawmakers were it not for written evidence provided by UTU members.
•When employees are injured, and they seek recovery under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, it is not uncommon for the carrier to deny knowledge of the safety hazard or its own violation of safety regulations. But when local legislative representatives and state legislative directors can provide UTU Designated Legal Counsel with copies of such letters, your legal case is strengthened.
Simply calling a carrier’s safety hotline is not enough to protect you, your family or your brothers and sisters from carrier safety hazards and safety violations. Those telephone calls go only to the carrier, which may or may not correct the situation.
Only when your local legislative representative and state legislative director receive your letter can they help you take action to correct the problem and make the workplace safer. If you need help writing the letter, ask your local legislative representative or state legislative director for that help.
Don’t become a victim twice. Write that letter and make sure a copy goes to your local legislative representative and your state legislative director.

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