Railroad Workplace Safety; Roadway Worker - U.S. Government: Fill & Download for Free

Unlike the Unions of the early 1900s that actually stood in the gap against true violations of worker autonomy by business owners, local government, and collaborators, modern unions…mostly don’t do that.There are no police riot breakers being sent to injure and kill people who strike. Hell, half the time, cops ignore violence against people who agree to work non-union (scabs) during a strike.OSHA and MSHA exist to look after workplace safety. One anonymous call to them brings the hammer down on any bullshit that a factory or mine is allowing. OSHA also operates in other workplaces, but factories are usually the ones where you actually run a risk of getting hurt.They mostly exist to collect money and to pass that money along to people who work for the union.But they also exist to ensure that the oldest running member of a job gets promoted, rather than the most competent.Moreover, they allow contracts to be signed that sign away the right to strike or allow the union to be paid its dues during a probationary period where union protections are not allowed.They also allow probationary periods to be extended without a hearing that has a union representative present. My probationary period was extended because I became injured enough to end up on light duty. Needless to say, in a world where the union was actually looking out for me, the union would have shitcanned that nonsense.They also did nothing when I was being railroaded into being fired for having gone on light duty.Closed shops are a terrible idea. Fuck unions.

"OSHA's Whistleblower Protection Program enforces the whistleblower provisions of more than twenty whistleblower statutes protecting employees who report violations of various workplace safety, airline, commercial motor carrier, consumer product, environmental, financial reform, food safety, health insurance reform, motor vehicle safety, nuclear, pipeline, public transportation agency, railroad, maritime, and securities laws. Rights afforded by these whistleblower acts include, but are not limited to, worker participation in safety and health activities, reporting a work related injury, illness or fatality, or reporting a violation of the statutes."http://www.whistleblowers.gov/

Train derailments happen all the time.Most train derailments don't result in major property damage or loss of life, but minor ones are actually quite common. In fact, they happen every day.The most important thing in a derailment-- after workplace safety-- is reopening the line. Everything else takes a back seat to that. The major Class 1 railroads will not hesitate to scrap an entire carload of goods to clear it from the tracks and reopen a line after even a minor incident. It doesn't matter what the load is, they will scrap it if it's blocking the main line.But some loads are scrapped even if they're not blocking the main line.In a derailment of loaded "auto racks" (the rail cars that carry new automobiles), the vehicles loaded in the train cars are (generally) scrapped for liability protection, even if the train cars derail upright, and the new cars are totally undamaged. No one wants to buy a new car that was in a train wreck, even if it was a minor derailment.​​(These auto racks may or may not have been pushed over the edge of the ravine to clear and reopen the line after an incident. The new cars inside were totally destroyed).Big train wrecks are such a mess, they're used as a way to describe other things that are a total mess. But I'm telling you, none of them hold a candle to the real thing.This is just a taste: