"It's an improvement over its predecessor."
"That it exists."
"Good print size."
"Contains info vital to safe conduct and work practices."
"Some helpful info for other crafts."
"Size (5x8)."
"Index."
Such are the responses most people offer when asked what they like about the safety rulebook that governs their work. Translation: "Not much." The comments are made cagily. Eyes narrow, full guard up. We're talking about a document that has a long history of use as "the hanging book" here. But the question marks the beginning of a participatory safety rulebook revision process led by the Hile Group, a process that transportation professionals throughout North America have come to recognize as a key catalyst in the turning of their safety culture toward trust, collaboration, personal investment, and deep individual and communal responsibility. Companies that have used the Hile approach credit it, in conjunction with other operational interventions, with noteworthy reductions in injury and severity frequencies, overall incident counts, and financial loss caused by incident and injury. Further, they credit the process with forcing identification and repair of other deep organizational flaws that have historically interfered with strong operational and safety performance. This paper:
Tells the story of how a participatory safety rulebook revision at the Alaska Railroad Corporation (ARRC) helped change that organization's safety and operational culture;
Briefly describes the Hile approach to safety rulebook revision in the context of the ARRC effort; and
Describes the evolution of participatory safety rule revision in the context of organization performance improvement and safety theory.
This paper:
The Alaska Railroad Corporation (ARRC) is a 600-mile, 750-employee, full-service railroad providing year-round freight and passenger service from the Gulf of Alaska at Seward to Fairbanks, in Alaska's Interior in the Yukon River drainage. The railroad hauls refined petroleum products, coal for both export to Asia and for internal consumption, container and trailer freight from Canada and the Lower 48 states (through a unique set of sea-going rail barges from Seattle and Prince Rupert, B.C.), and gravel for local construction; it carries more than half a million passengers a year, mainly in summer. The ARRC earned $11 million on $126 million gross revenue in 2005.
The ARRC is wholly owned by the State of Alaska, but due to its enabling legislation, receives no money from the government. The corporation is entirely self-supporting and is managed separately from state government. Employees are members of five craft unions, and many have worked for the railroad since its days as a federally owned line. It was built between 1903 and 1923, the last 10 years of which were under the funding and direction of the United States Department of the Interior. The state purchased the line from the federal government in 1985 for $22 million.
