CP Switchman almost got me fired

I work for a very large soybean processing plant in Eastern SD. I was employed there from 2005 to 2009 and just started back there about two months ago.

Nights and weekends we load train cars and move them over on to our siding for the Canadian Pacific to take away and bring us more empty cars.

Safety at my workplace is paramount. The most important rule there is that we where fall protection when we are working on top of train cars. People have been severely injured around them so they made it a rule that anyone caught on top of a car without fall protection will be fired immediately. I am very conscious of this rule and always where my fall protection. I need my job.

A couple weeks ago my partner and I showed up to work a night shift. Our plant manager was waiting for us. He sat us down along with our shift supervisor and told us a cute story about people who watch out for those that are in violation of rules. He then pulled out his phone and read off an email. The email was from our local CP customer service rep and it stated that the switchman who brought in cars for us two nights previous walked in on one of us on top of a car with no fall protection and had a talk with us about it.

BOTH OF THOSE STATEMENTS ARE 100% UNTRUE!

I swore up and down that that did not happen. I stated that we were however prepping a car while the train was there, which is technically not supposed to happen, but our shift supervisor, who is very well respected and has been there for 10 years, suspended that rule as production was forcing us to load as much as possible.

The plant manager then stated that if we were lying about the fall protection then we would both be fired. He told the shift supervisor to go talk to the switchman when the train came in that night and get to the bottom of this.

I got to work, hands shaking and skin pale, wondering if someone was out to get me. I told the supervisor there was no way I was on top of a car with no fall protection. He agreed, he knows I am a safe worker as does most everyone else at the plant.

The train came in and the supervisor had a talk with the switchman. Supervisor came back to me and said that I was indeed wearing my fall protection. The problem was with being around cars while the switch was taking place, which he admitted was his fault and not a big deal to begin with. He then patted me on the back and said he was fine.

Now, someone screwed up. The switchman on that shift is an arrogant smarta$$ who talks to me as if I were a mouse. I'm not sure if the guy truly went back to his supervisor and told her a lie or that the supervisor told a lie to my manager or that there was just something mixed up in translation.

Either way it almost cost me my job.

The question is, would you call someone out on this deal? Either have a talk with that switchman next time he comes in or call the customer service rep or go to someone higher up and explain that something isn't right and that I almost got fired as a result?

Either someone lied or there was a big miscommunication. Either way there is a problem.

Thanks for your attention.

^Welcome to the board Crusher.

I generally add a warning here; this is not a court of law, or a union hearing. While I have no reason to doubt anyone on here, the facts as you state them are your opinion; you may get responses that question that.

In any case, let's have a discussion that's reasonable, i.e. "what-if, this" kind of, without a lot of accusations going back and forth.

www.railroad.net makes no representation as to the circumstances of these incidents.

Thanks Jeff. I'm not sure if this is the right forum or what can be done about this issue but I figured you guys know a thing about RR rules and regulations and maybe someone here is local enough they know the people I'm speaking about.

I figured if I was wrong in posting here then someone would let me know...

I think your questions would get more attention on the Employment Forum so I'll move it there.

its not personal. the railroad wants to fire us for everything.....

Even if you jumped in front of the train, and got killed, at your industry, the railroad would blame the conductor.

A realistic situation in your case would be, you are near the equipment, the track gave way(because most industries have shit rail), and you are killed by the equipment in the process. Even though the conductor would be 100% NOT at fault (the track gave way), he would be investigated and terminated because you where to close to the equipment when i took a pull. It just the way it is.... basically, be a football field away, when the cars our pulled. He wants his job as much as you want yours.

And the customer service rep (i think he means trainmaster, that is the only other person who would come down to the plant) at the CP would tell you "if you can see the cars with binoculars being pulled, YOU WHERE TOO CLOSE AND SHOULD BE FIRED, WHERE IS YOUR SUPERVISOR I WANT YOU FIRED!!!!!" let it go the Railroad is paranoid about any lawsuits.....

I don't get it? Why in the world would the CP switchman care what you were doing in any way? If he did say ANYTHING to ANYONE he is a complete weasel. Weird story, I don't get it.

matawanaberdeen wrote:I don't get it? Why in the world would the CP switchman care what you were doing in any way? If he did say ANYTHING to ANYONE he is a complete weasel. Weird story, I don't get it.

Well, I have had industry employees dart in front of my shove with pay-loaders, THAT WOULD HAVE KILLED ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! More times i can count !!! Thats when i go nuts, when you put MY life in on the line.... If it means getting you FIRED good you have it coming... I don't care that you have 4 kids and a wife, you should have thought of that before you drove that heavy equipment in front of my shove 10 feet in front of me, and that person knows i am coming because we made eye contact and they floor it rather then stop it... I would go to the ends of the earth to make sure that employee is FIRED!!! Because they put my life on the line.....

But if you are just too close to the equipment, well read the above post.... The conductor is to blame, not the moron who was 2 feet from the equipment and tried to climb through when i am pulling a 20 car drag from a mill...

matawanaberdeen, until you our a qualified freight conductor or engineer and know what servicing an industry is really about, with industry employees darting in front of you, climbing on crap when your moving stuff, my best advice......shut the fuck up!!!!!!!

Thanks for moving it for me.

I can see where you are getting at with the conductor thinking he'd have to assume blame if something happened, but it's never happened before. They've never complained about anyone else before that I can remember. I've never heard "the railroad called and said you were doing this" about anyone else at that place.

I almost wonder if that conductor had something personal against me. He always talks to me like I'm a child. Maybe he didn't like the way I critiqued his car-spotting job, I don't know but he always acts like he is annoyed by me. Maybe he was miffed that he had to wait a little longer while we loaded a car. I don't know.

Either way, two things made it back to my boss that were totally untrue, and I almost lost my job as a result.

I'd like to ask the guy if he gained anything by making trouble with me next time he comes in. I'd like to call the rep and ask her what her story was.

Either way the facts will probably get twisted again and it's gonna come across like I threatened someone.

Some good advice I heard after this incident from one of my coworkers was to not help the RR save time in any way. If we got work to do, don't let them in the plant, make them stay on the main line until we are done. "Don't be afraid to be a jerk, they certainly aren't."

crusher wrote: The question is, would you call someone out on this deal? Either have a talk with that switchman next time he comes in or call the customer service rep or go to someone higher up and explain that something isn't right and that I almost got fired as a result?

Either someone lied or there was a big miscommunication. Either way there is a problem.

Thanks for your attention.

I would just drop it at this point... The switchman did say that you were wearing the fall protection. Who knows where the story got mixed up. The sad thing is that railroad employees deal with this type of behavior on regular basis. Managers are always finding new creative ways to discipline and fire the train crews.

As to train crew talking down to you, this is something that you should address to your immediate supervisor. There is no reason for enyone to talk to you like that.

crusher wrote:

I stated that we were however prepping a car while the train was there, which is technically not supposed to happen, but our shift supervisor, who is very well respected and has been there for 10 years, suspended that rule as production was forcing us to load as much as possible.

Right there is the reason the conductor flip out..... You and the company our both willing to SUSPEND safety rules too further production. The conductor is most likely a regular employee marked to the job and is well aware that your plant is willing to put safety out the window to get cars loaded. That would make me nervous moving train cars around a plant who has that "suspended the rule" policy. Safety is even "more" important when your under the gun "forcing us to load as much as possible" that's when mistakes happen a people get killed....

On another note, that conductor should "not talk down to you", that you should bring up...... unless you have done some stupid things when he is switching your plant to put HIS job on the line, there is no reason to talk to you like an idiot.

No, no I understand someone being a jerk and doing unsafe things around your equipment but that is not what is described here. Also the first thing you should do is tell him to quit doing unsafe things. If it happens again then say something. To run back immediately I think is wrong. Sorry I rubbed you the wrong way, jeez take it easy.

I really don't think it's our business to assess an industry we service wether their employees are following safety rules or not. Especially in this case. I understand Chicagorail1's concern been in situations where I was heading out of a pier after placing coal with light motors when derails came on our track and a pier engine came running by on another track without warning to get behind one of the tracks we just spotted. Lot's of scenarios on that situation what if i didn't change ends and the conductor didn't see the derail or I didn't see it or was to close to stop ect...Wearing fall protection is totally different situation. What if one of their employees knows railroad safety rules then sees a violation should they turn the train crew in? The industries we work are our bread and butter people shouldn't create waves.

Crusher, Did you have blue flag protection while working a track? A lot of industries didn't that I've worked. That might be a suggestion to add protection another would be switch locks. Did the crew have a heads up that people were working on or around adjacent tracks? As for attitudes with the conductor I worked with a lot of attitudes during my carreer as a locomotive engineer. Sorry this happened.

All I was trying to get at is most people don't mind their own business anymore, and if you are gonna rat on someone and almost get them fired you better be dam certain of what you saw. I was not trying to insult anyone. I have said on here MANY times how much I respect what conductors and engineers go through, and how tough the lifestyle is.

matawanaberdeen wrote:All I was trying to get at is most people don't mind their own business anymore, and if you are gonna rat on someone and almost get them fired you better be dam certain of what you saw. I was not trying to insult anyone. I have said on here MANY times how much I respect what conductors and engineers go through, and how tough the lifestyle is.

That's huge in this incident. Someone obviously wasn't sure what happened so they just through out the worst common denominator to get me in trouble.

As stated before I worked at this place before. The fall protection rule has always been around and I understand and respect it greatly and always obey it. We do indeed have blue flag rules. They have been around for a few months. I was not even 100% aware of how they worked. I don't even think the shift supervisor knew about them either. We have important rules and not so important rules. When the plant manager was notified that this was a blue flag violation and not a fall protection violation, he pretty much said, "oh is that it? Then just remind them of the blue flag policy." End of discussion.

In the end, a MAJOR violation got mixed up with a minor one. Someone along the way decided to throw in the fact that the guy also had a talk with me about it at the time of the violation. That's probably the biggest thing to me. The guy didn't say a word to me.

I'd like to talk to the conductor next time I see him or call up the rep and talk with her personally just to tell them they need to get their stories straight since they almost cost me my job. I probably shouldn't since it will probably come back to me and someone is gonna claim that I threatened them or something.

I really hate this "we are the railroad, we put up with a lot of stuff, so we can get away with anything" attitude.

One piece of advice a coworker gave me was to not be a nice guy with the RR and help speed up their job for them. No more of this stop what we are doing to let them do their job business. From now on I'm going to finish loading my car, move it over to the siding then walk (not run) down to the end of our spur and take the flag down.

"Don't be afraid to be a jerk to those guys, they certainly aren't with you."