Edu-565 case study: safety training program

  SAFETY FIRST: CASE STUDY

BNSF Railway is a North American freight transportation company with over 32,000 miles of routes. BNSF Railway hauls agricultural, consumer, and industrial products and coal. BNSF Railway puts safety above everything else it does, including productivity. BNSF Railway recognizes that safety is based on having well-trained employees who share BNSF Railway’s vision for an injury- and accident-free workplace and who are willing to look out for one another. Thanks to its employees’ commitment, a carefully maintained network and equipment, and well-prepared communities, BNSF Railway is a safety leader in the rail industry. Approaching Others About Safety (AOAS) is a training program for all BNSF Railway employees. Four hundred and fifty BNSF Railway employees train their peers. Employees serve as trainers because page 200BNSF Railway believes they are in the best position to keep themselves and their peers safe. The goal of the program is for BNSF Railway employees to be confident about giving feedback to each other about safe behavior and avoiding unsafe situations. Employees need to learn the value of providing feedback when they see unsafe behavior or situations, including positively recognizing when someone is working safely or correcting them when they perceive another employee is at risk. Training should focus on the types of exposures that tend to result in the most injuries, including walking/path of travel around trains, rails, and equipment, pinch points between the railway cars, and climbing or descending locomotives and railway cars.

Describe the different types of instructional characteristics that this program should have for learning and transfer to occur and for a decrease in injuries and accidents to result. Would these characteristics vary depending on who was attending the program (e.g., managers, train crew, employees who maintain track, structures, or signals)? If so, how would they vary? Explain how a community of practice (COP) could be beneficial for this program.

Source: Based on M. Weinstein, “BNSF Railway Is on the Right Track,” training (January/February 2017), pp. 42–44; “BNSF Railway: Approaching Others About Safety,” training (January/February 2014), pp. 108–109; www.bnsf.com, website for BNSF Railways, accessed March 11, 2015.