Senators to Norfolk Southern: Stand by pledge, join federal close-call reporting system

Pennsylvania Sens. Bob Casey Jr. and John Fetterman rebuked Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw in a letter Friday for not yet joining a federal program that shields railroad workers who anonymously report close calls, despite the freight carrier's commitment to do so after the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment.

Casey and Fetterman, both Democrats, urged Shaw to stand by the company's March 2 vow to join the Federal Railroad Administration's Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS), calling it "a promising program with real potential to improve rail safety, protect employees, and reduce incidents if adopted by a larger swath of the rail industry."

"Five months after that commitment, Norfolk Southern has still not formally joined the program," Casey and Fetterman write in their letter to Shaw. "We are writing today to urge you to follow through on your promise and promptly begin participation in C3RS."

In a statement to the USA Today Network, Norfolk Southern said it is "making good progress toward operationalizing our membership in the Confidential Close Call Reporting System. We met with FRA representatives in May to receive an initial briefing on the program, and with labor representatives this month to discuss the multi-party Memorandum of Understanding and the subsequent implementation of a pilot program at NS."

Neither Norfolk Southern nor any of the major freight railroad companies have formally joined the voluntary program since being asked to do so by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg after the Feb. 3 derailment of 50 Norfolk Southern train cars, many of which were carrying hazardous materials.

Several train cars burned for two days following the derailment before first responders and other officials conducted a controlled burn of cars carrying vinyl chloride, a chemical used in plastic production. The controlled burn released hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the atmosphere and prompted the evacuation of residents living within a mile of the crash site.

The health and environmental effects of the derailment were felt not just in East Palestine but across the Pennsylvania state line in areas of Lawrence and Beaver counties, including Darlington Township.

As emergency workers cleaned up the crash site, state and federal lawmakers and regulators began re-evaluating Norfolk Southern's safety record and the rules that freight operators have been required to follow. Among a slew of new requirements and recommendations placed on the industry was Buttigieg's urging that carriers formally join the C3RS.

As the New York Times reported Aug. 11, none of the major freight carriers have joined the voluntary program and instead are attempting to modify it first. Among the industry's concerns with the program, the report said, is the protections it affords workers who report these close calls and near misses. They worry the program could be abused by workers who use it to report mistakes or misconduct that would otherwise warrant discipline.

C3RS was modeled after a similar program used by the airline industry since 1976. Both the Aviation Safety Reporting System and C3RS, which was launched in 2011, are operated through partnerships with NASA.

Casey and Fetterman cite in their letter a recent Safety Culture Assessment of Norfolk Southern, which found that trust between company management and employees is lacking and that a third of the labor leaders and craft employees who were surveyed for the assessment "expressed a reluctance to stop an unsafe action due to a fear of retaliation or disciplinary action" and that employees may not report similar concerns to the company's own internal close-call reporting system for that reason. For those reasons, the FRA recommended in its report that Norfolk Southern join the federal program.

Likewise, the trade group that has represented the major freight carriers in discussions about the program, the Association of American Railroads, has stated that the program, as Casey and Fetterman say in their letter to Shaw, would allow railroads to use the reports to address "purported employee misconduct."

"Allowing the railroads to punish employees who report safety concerns would not only harm rail workers who are simply doing the right thing, but also undermine the program and make rail less safe," the senators say in their letter to Shaw.

By Sept. 7, Casey and Fetterman want Norfolk Southern to indicate if it still intends to join C3RS and if it will formally do so by the end of the year. They're also asking for any evidence the company has that its employees would be more likely to misuse the program to avoid discipline than workers at other railroads and what actions it has taken to address the concerns about its safety culture expressed by the FRA in its recent report.

Matthew Rink can be reached at mrink@timesnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Senators: Norfolk Southern should honor pledge, join federal program