Thursday, September 23, 1999 (Washington, DC )

U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater today announced that the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is expanding its safety oversight to include activities specifically targeted at reducing railroad accidents caused by human error.

The effort will improve safety by bringing the agency’s highly effective Safety Assurance and Compliance Program (SACP) to bear on human behavior in railroad operations before accidents occur.

"By expanding this already highly successful program, we will once again advance safety, which is President Clinton’s highest transportation priority," Secretary Slater said. "This initiative will help all involved in railroad operations assess the human role in day-to-day railroad practices and how they can be made safer."

According to the FRA, the Operating Practices Initiative is intended to address safety conditions or trends that affect the railroad industry as a whole, not specific railroads. The initiative will be instituted incrementally, eventually encompassing all FRA regions, beginning in those areas where the number of reportable human error incidents is greatest. The incremental approach also will help the FRA determine how to effectively utilize inspection resources.

In 1993 the FRA reoriented its safety program from being reactive and focused on issuing civil penalties for noncompliance, to a proactive, cooperative approach involving key stakeholders within the railroad industry. The resulting SACP is a process of continuous improvement involving rail labor, rail management and the FRA by championing the best practices in the railroad industry to increase safety. SACP is an outgrowth of President Clinton’s and Vice President Gore’s directive to federal regulatory agencies that their inspection and enforcement programs be designed to focus on safety results, not just the collection of fines.

"Vice President Gore challenged the federal government to do business in a new way," said FRA Administrator Jolene M. Molitoris. "SACP has changed the way the FRA, rail labor and rail management do business, and it has led to dramatic improvements in rail safety such as 33 percent fewer train incidents, 28 percent fewer highway-rail incidents and 31 percent fewer highway-rail fatalities."