Brothers and Sisters,
 
Safety is the most important aspect of any job. Due to the hard physical labour and the dangerous environment, inclement weather and an attitude of cost savings and production pushed at us constantly, our type of railroading puts us at risk daily. And safety becomes even more important.
 
We have all seen the recent 'spike' in train accidents at Canada's railroads and we are fighting hard to reverse this trend.  However there is another 'spike' at CP which we really have to give our all to immediately.
 
In 2010, the amount of personal injuries at CPR are far exceeding ALL of the other 'class one' railways in North America and not just slightly, by almost double.
 
As you can see by the CP prepared charts below, FRA personal injuries are through the roof at CP.  And remember these are the injuries that are FRA reportable.  If someone is hurt but they are kept working (or on pay) or do not go to the doctor or do not have prescription medication prescribed, they might not be counted on these lists. There has been a bit of controversy over the years concerning the spin that the company may have put on these 'stats', so when they are this high it is even more disturbing.
 
There was also a fatality on CP on January 19th, 2010, which may not have been captured in these stats (it is not shown on the safety pyramids for the same time).  Though the fatality was reported to the Transportation Safety Board (the Canadian equivalent of FRA), it was a contractor (not a regular employee) who was killed.
 
To me, the fact that Mr. Gudmundson was not a regular employee does not make his death any less tragic. Our hearts and prayers went out to his family and friends, it didn't matter whether he was a CP employee or not.  He was working for CP, on CP equipment, on CP track and with CP employees. He died in our world. This was a railway workplace fatality, no matter how it is spun and we must learn from it and prevent its like from ever happening again.
 
I do not care about the safety stats unless they are accurate. And I feel that they will not help to accomplish a reduction in injuries/ fatalities unless they are compiled and communicated... comprehensively. And though we have had a real breakdown in communication with Engineering services and have to jump through many hoops just to get simple information.... we will continue to jump through these hoops and any other roadblocks they throw at us.  Because we are fighting for the lives of our friends, not our employees.  We are trying to protect people with names, not simply employee numbers. We are trying to prevent tragedies, we are not just looking out for the 'bottom line'.
 
This huge jump in the amount of personal injuries is occurring during the months when CP has its smallest TCRCMWED workforce.  Hundreds of our members are returning to work over the next few weeks so we have to be especially vigilant to protect ourselves and each other.  
 
Your safety is far too important to leave in the hands of this management.
 
Safety is not expensive...it is priceless.
 
Stay safe, stay strong, stay united,
 
Bill Brehl
President
TCRCMWED