Vanzant Earns UP’s Top Safety Honor (Updated)

UP presented Track Supervisor Lakish Vanzant with the J.C. Kenefick Safety Award at its Feb. 24 Leadership Conference in Omaha.

Union Pacific (UP) Track Supervisor Lakish Vanzant of Chicago has earned the Class I railroad’s 2021 J.C. Kenefick Safety Award.

The annual award was presented at UP’s Feb. 24 Leadership Conference in Omaha, Neb. Named after former UP CEO John C. Kenefick and established in 1986, the award is the railroad’s highest safety honor given to an agreement employee. (Kenefick “guided the company into the era deregulation after the passage of the Staggers Act in 1980,” and worked to more than double the railroad’s size through acquisitions and to gain access to the Powder River Basin in Wyoming, UP noted on its website.)

Vanzant’s roles in training, field-testing curriculum and work-rule compliance initiatives were recognized.

“I appreciate the acceptance of the award, but the homework is not done,” said Vanzant, the second engineering employee to receive it. “I am just getting started.”

UP shared more of Vanzant’s story on the Inside Track section of its website. It is reproduced, in part, below:

Vanzant, also known as LV, started her UP career in Dolton, Ill., in 2013, and has always viewed safety as a top priority, according to the railroad. For example, in Engineering, craft professionals facilitate MAPS classes. Vanzant has been a leader in this process, guiding more than 50 employees though MAPS training since July 2020. She’s also led the Southern Region’s ESPAR (Engineering Safety Process Accountability Review) audits, helping teams prepare and prevent unforeseen violations through correction action training.

“LV possesses the most positive outlook on life,” said Mark Montoya, UP Manager-Track Compliance, Engineering. “And I think that has helped mold her into a natural leader on the ground that can inspire people moving forward.”

Montoya recounted a time when she changed an entire room of employees’ perception. The two were visiting a workgroup and identified several at-risk safety behaviors. As Vanzant talked through areas of concern, the conversation quickly turned contentious. By the end of the discussion, people were smiling and shaking hands with those they had communication gaps with.

“To sit back and see the power of the emotional touch that LV handled that with, that’s huge,” Montoya said.

It’s a sentiment also shared by Ashley Glover, UP Director-Track Maintenance, Engineering.

“Her passion for safety is phenomenal,” Glover said. “She’s always willing to jump in and help wherever needed, and to have that type of interaction with an employee, it comes off very well.”

The 2021 J.C. Kenefick Safety Award marks what would’ve been the 100th birthday of John C. Kenefick, the award’s namesake.

Vanzant said she is honored, but wants to remain grounded as she looks to improve on UP’s safety standards.

“My goal is always just to do better, make sure we create the safety aspect across the country,” Vanzant said. “UP is my other family, so if I care about my family and what we do at home, then I definitely want to care about what we do at work.”