(NewsNation) — Nearly one year after one of its trains derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, Norfolk Southern has become the first railroad of its kind to join a federal program that allows employees to report safety concerns anonymously without fear of discipline.
Following last February’s fiery derailment, all six major freight railroad companies agreed to join the Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS), which enables workers to report unsafe events without fear of retribution. As of Monday, only Norfolk Southern has joined, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) said in a release.
“Norfolk Southern has taken a good first step, and it’s time for the other Class I railroads to back up their talk with action and make good on their promises to join this close call reporting system and keep America’s rail network safe,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.
The one-year pilot agreement is limited to members of just two unions and includes about 1,000 engineers and conductors who work for Norfolk Southern, according to the Associated Press.
The announcement comes just days before the first anniversary of a disastrous train derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border that spilled toxic chemicals, displaced nearby residents and left many fearing for their health.
Over the past year, federal officials have urged railroads to do more to improve safety but legislation like the bipartisan Railway Safety Act has stalled.
Monday’s agreement comes after months of negotiations between worker representatives and Norfolk Southern, DOT said.
“NS is proud to partner with our labor leaders and FRA to make another industry-leading advancement in safety,” Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw said in a statement.
Officials with the unions that signed onto the deal also praised the agreement.
“It should be the goal of everyone who works in the railroad industry to continually improve safety,” Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) National President Eddie Hall said in a statement. “Providing a confidential platform to report unsafe practices allows us to harness the power of every worker’s voice.
Jeremy Ferguson, the head of the SMART-TD conductors union, said the new program will allow members to “speak up when they see unsafe conditions without fear of negative repercussions.”
Under the C3RS program, which covers 32,000 workers across Amtrak and several dozen small railroads, the Federal Railroad Administration has received nearly 31,000 reports.
Major freight railroads have resisted joining the federal program, in part, because they said their internal reporting systems are sufficient and they wanted to be allowed to discipline workers for abusing the federal hotline. But railroad unions have said workers are reluctant to use the railroads’ safety hotlines because they fear retribution.
On last week’s earnings call, Shaw said Norfolk Southern had kept good on its safety promises and saw a 42% reduction in the mainline accident rate compared to the year before.
A preliminary National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into what caused the East Palestine derailment determined that an overheated wheel bearing was likely to blame. The train’s crew members had no indication something was wrong until an alarm sounded just before the train went off the tracks.
So far, the incident has cost Norfolk Southern an estimated $1.1 billion, the company said on its quarterly earnings call Friday. Those costs could grow with lawsuits and environmental cleanup ongoing.