HARRISBURG, Pa. — With the statistics tabulated and verified, Norfolk Southern announced that its Harrisburg Division was the safest operating division on the railroad’s 22-state network for 2006, with an injury ratio of .56.
The Harrisburg Division’s Transportation Department recorded the lowest operating department injury ratio in the history of Norfolk Southern, with a ratio of .31.
The corporate goal for 2006 was a .89 injury ratio, which also was bettered by the Harrisburg Division’s Maintenance of Way and Structures Department, and Communications and Signals Department. Rail industry injury ratios are based on Federal Railroad Administration reportable incidents per 200,000 employee-hours worked.
“Between the volume of train traffic on the division and the weather in the Northeast, working injury-free cannot be taken for granted,” said Jerry Hall, superintendent of Norfolk Southern’s Harrisburg Division. “The division’s 2006 safety performance reflects the tremendous focus our employees have on working safely, coupled with comprehensive training and excellent working relationships between labor and management.”
The Harrisburg Division is one of 11 operating divisions on Norfolk Southern. With track and facilities in five Northeastern states, the division has more than 1,800 main-line route miles of track and includes major terminals in Allentown, Enola, Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Reading, Pa.; Buffalo and Binghamton, N.Y.; Baltimore, Md.; and Secaucus and Jersey City, N.J.
The division has approximately 2,100 employees, doing the work necessary to keep 260 daily trains carrying consumer and food products, automobiles, coal, chemicals, lumber, steel, mail and packages moving on time.
For the past 17 years (1989 through 2005), Norfolk Southern has provided the safest railroad workplace in North America among Class 1 railroads, earning the coveted E.H. Harriman Memorial Safety Award for each of those years. Results for 2006 will be announced by the Association of American Railroads later this year.
— PRNewswire
