NEW YORK – More employees of Metro-North Railroad will now be able to report any potential safety hazard or breach of procedures that they may observe by providing them with a non-confrontational and anonymous method.
Metro-North President Joseph Giulietti, labor organizations representing 4,000 employees and the Federal Railroad Administration signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday describing the core principles and values to successfully implement the program to its mechanical and engineering workers. He said the program has proven success in the aviation industry.
“By calling in anonymously they are then able to produce reports on what are trends in the industry, and in the meantime, by employees working with the system, it provides that instead of following the usual FRA-mandated fines and bringing them up on charges, the information comes to the FRA and comes to the agencies for their review teams to go over what is going on and to look for measures to go and prevent future accidents and incidents from the railroad,” Giulietti said.
This MOU adds to a previous agreement in 2015 with some 1,500 transportation department employees, represented by the Association of Commuter Rail Employees, including conductors, engineers and rail traffic controllers.
