‘This Switch’: Railway Age CEO Perspectives on Safety

It may not surprise anyone who knows us, but we try to keep things simple here at Watco. When we set objectives, we work hard to make sure we stay focused on our customers and our team members. If it is good for them, it is good for Watco. But it is only a successful day at Watco if every single team member we have makes it home in safe condition each day.

In my previous career as a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos, I had a wise coach once tell me, “You are only as good as your last pitch.” Success on a baseball field as a Major League pitcher can be simplified into two words: 

“This Pitch.”

In our industry, where I spend my time today, I am humbled by how much focus, effort, and investment has gone into improving safety over the past 15 years. But still, I am reminded of that coach I once knew. I can’t help but alter his advice slightly to fit how success can be measured in our industry. Again, two simple words, but modified for our business: 

“This Switch.”

What is the most important achievement at Watco? One would be wise to say it is the safe execution of the task at hand. Because when the task at hand gets done right, you can rest assured our team all went home safely. And those are my favorite days at Watco. We do far more than switch railcars at Watco these days, but the idea that the task at hand, more simply referred to as “This Switch,” is understood by our team as the easiest way to measure success or failure. 

As I like to remind our people, we are only as good as our most recent switch.

When I look at our many other safety achievements at Watco, it is important to highlight our Safe Performance Center (SPC) in Fairfield, Ala., near Birmingham. This was something we wanted to put in place for a long time—a facility built and designed for one purpose: safety. 

Seeing the SPC become a reality was extremely gratifying. The SPC is not just a building. It represents Watco’s commitment to our people and our customers to be safe. The SPC means we can ensure we’re offering team members standardized, high-quality safety training. No matter where our conductors, engineers, mechanics, and maintenance-of-way teams are based, they receive the same, uniform instruction. Everyone learns the importance of staying focused on the task at hand.

A dedicated team of full-time safety instructors is based at the SPC, with a handful of other SPC instructors providing training remotely for our field operations. Our centralized rail safety training ensures we’re delivering the same information at any place and time.

A few years ago, we invested $3 million to double the SPC’s size, adding new classrooms, lab space, and a new conference room. We started out in 2017 averaging about 180 people coming through the SPC annually. The past three years, we’ve averaged 500 students per year. 

Another achievement I’m very proud of is our safety culture. We are focused on prevention. Stop Work Authority is alive and well. It’s not just lip service. People aren’t afraid to stop activity that could become an issue. 

We also have a formal system of capturing safety suggestions and tracking near-misses. Our team reviews this information in daily meetings, learns from it, and acts on it. This kind of open communication continues to strengthen our safety awareness and approach.

These are some other notable Watco safety successes:

ASLRRA recognized Watco rail operations in 2023 for their safety records, including one President’s Award for Watco Switching Services, 23 Jake Awards with Distinction, and four Jake Awards.

The Watco team switching railcars for Packaging Corporation of America in DeRidder, Louisiana, was recently recognized for a million hours without a lost-time injury. And just a couple of years ago, one of our largest railroads, the Wisconsin & Southern, hit that same remarkable milestone. At the WSOR, it meant more than 150 team members handled more than 200,000 railcars across 600 track-miles for more than three years without an injury.

We have organized Team Safety and Improvement Committees. Team members at the local level meet regularly to note their observations and suggest safety improvement ideas, and many are put into action.

Our teams bolster community safety readiness. Several Watco locations participate in disaster drills, and we partner with local, state, and federal agencies for emergency response planning.

I am very proud of our Watco team for where we find ourselves today, after more than 40 years in business. I am grateful for the thousands of team members, past and present, who helped make this happen, and the thousands of customers that allow us to support all these amazing families that make up Watco. But I am most proud when the little things get done right, every time, with focus and attention to detail, and our team members all make it home in a safe condition. That is what Watco was built upon, and I know it will keep growing to places we can never imagine if we all stay focused on “This Switch.”