Unions urge state to regulate safety of railroads

Thursday, Oct. 8, 1998 | 12:02 p.m.

The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada has begun studying railroad safety regulations.

Unions participating in the review process are taking the opportunity to air concerns about workplace issues in locomotive cabs and on walkways along Nevada's 1,107 miles of track.

Lucy Stewart, who is serving as presiding officer in the case, said the PUC has been directed by the Nevada Legislature to evaluate railroad safety regulations in the state and compare them with federal and other states' statutes. She conducted a hearing this week and will submit a report to the Legislative Counsel Bureau by Dec. 31 that could lead to new laws or revisions.

The author of the legislation ordering the review, Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said the intent of the law is to focus on safety issues and not working conditions.

"With all the talk of nuclear waste coming to Yucca Mountain, we felt it was important to update railroad safety," Titus said. "We seem to have fallen behind in some areas."

Participants in the hearing were the Union Pacific Railroad, which has more than 600 employees in Nevada, and three labor unions -- the United Transportation Union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and the Transportation Communications International Union.

Union Pacific has an annual payroll in Nevada of about $40 million and pays $2.8 million in taxes annually to the state. A company official said the railroad annually also spends about $2 million in the state for miscellaneous services, including food and lodging.

While Union Pacific encouraged the state to standardize its rules to meet existing federal regulations, the unions suggested that regulators examine the need to improve working conditions for railroad workers.

"Unless the state can demonstrate that a more stringent state rule is necessary to eliminate or reduce an 'essentially local safety hazard' and is not incompatible with the federal requirements and is also not an unreasonable burden on interstate commerce, the state is foreclosed from regulating," said a filing by Carol Harris, general commerce counsel for Union Pacific.

"It would be a serious mistake for this commission to allow any rules of other states to be imported into Nevada without first obtaining a thorough understanding of how the rules are applied and enforced in their home state or whether they are being enforced at all," Harris said.

Harris explained that if rules are inconsistent from state to state, it would have an adverse impact on interstate commerce.

But the unions say there are safety aspects the state should review related to workplace issues.

Guy Zewadski, who represented the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers at the hearing, presented a list of workplace concerns the union has. Clean toilet facilities on locomotives and in crew buildings, cool drinking water, heating and air conditioning in cabs and refrigerated food storage areas are being sought.

Zewadski acknowledged that some of the newest locomotives have those features, but most of the equipment in use doesn't. The union also is seeking a regulation for two-person crews on trains instead of one, and general safe workplace guidelines regarding clearances, outdoor lighting and hazardous materials.

Zewadski also is seeking a regulation that law enforcement agencies not be allowed to see an engineer's auto driver's license or Social Security number in the course of investigating a train-car accident.

Rod Nelms, assistant legislative director of the United Transportation Union, asked regulators to examine the impact a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain would have on train transportation safety.

James Mular, regional legislative director for the Transportation Communications International Union, suggested the panel review how the railroad maintains records on where and how hazardous materials are transported or stored.

The union said each railroad terminal or station should maintain safety procedures for hazardous materials.

Titus said the unions "seem to have carried it further than we intended" by raising workplace issues in the PUC forum.

"We're talking about embankments on tracks, stopping for inspections, issues of that nature," Titus said. "We also wanted to have a look at hazardous materials issues, but not the areas of facilities within the trains."