Employee-Driven Innovation, Our Path to Safety Leadership: Railway Age CEO Perspectives on Safety

At R. J. Corman, we’ve always believed that our people are our most valuable asset. Our founder, Rick Corman, started this company as an equipment operator, and that hands-on experience instilled a fundamental truth: safety isn’t just about compliance – it’s about protecting the heart of our business, our team members.

Fifty years ago, Rick Corman found that using a backhoe to unload ties from gondola cars was not only more efficient, but undeniably safer than doing it by hand. It wasn’t flashy but it was innovative for the time. That spirit still defines us. Today, with safety as our first core value, we’ve found that success lies in empowering a behavior-based safety culture characterized by innovation and continuous improvement.

R. J. Corman doesn’t fit neatly into a single category. With locations in 24 states, we offer a multitude of railroad-related businesses spanning everything from freight and passenger rail to track maintenance to emergency response. This geographical and operational diversity presents unique safety challenges that can’t be solved with cookie-cutter solutions. Each division, often with regulatory requirements, must tailor its own effective safety approach. It is this diversity that fuels our innovation, fostering a culture where diverse perspectives converge to tackle safety issues, driving solutions we can then share throughout the organization.

At the heart of our success is our robust behavior-based safety program. Our leaders support it, and it’s fundamentally informed by valuable input from our frontline employees. To kick off each year, we hold Safety Commitment Week, emphasizing collective responsibility through a pledge and focused safety stand-downs. To stay ahead of the curve, we’ve invested in instant reporting and analytics systems that put crucial real-time safety data directly into the hands of decision-makers. If incidents or near misses occur, transparency is our most powerful tool; we rapidly issue company-wide bulletins and additional stand-downs to ensure everyone learns from the situation. For us, honesty and accountability are vital parts of any safety equation: We have zero tolerance for delayed or non-reporting of incidents.

We prioritize safety education and training at every level. Our new hands-on Training Center and Mobile Training Simulators provide cutting-edge resources to hone skills. Monthly company-wide LMS (Learning Management System) training continually reinforces key concepts for everyone, from dispatchers to track maintenance crews. Additionally, our employee-led Regional Safety Improvement Teams (SITs) are a powerful testament to the idea that our best safety innovations often come from our boots-on-the-ground teams. Case in point: our team members developed a specialized rack to allow safe, efficient mounting of oxy-acetylene cylinders onto equipment, eliminating a potential hazard.

Moreover, we actively participate in industry initiatives fostering safety knowledge in our communities, both hosting external training like Short Line Safety Institute first responders’ programs and American Association of Railroad Superintendents Train Accident Prevention & Investigation Training and taking advantage of those offered by organizations like MxV Rail and the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA). We work with states to access Section 130 grade crossing funding, and our team members are active in Operation Lifesaver, demonstrating our deep commitment to broader industry safety.

The results of this approach speak for themselves. We’ve earned numerous awards, including several years of the ASLRRA Jake Award with Distinction by our short lines and the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association Safety Award multiple times. Our HFI (human factor incidents) indexes have consistently improved year-over-year, and 2023 was a record safety performance regarding our total recordable incident rate. We are widely recognized in the industry as safety leaders. Our safety statistics are among the top, but this isn’t just about numbers; it is about everyone going home the way they came to work.

As we evolve to suit the needs of our customers, we have discovered that a focus on behavioral-based safety, a drive for continuous improvement, and open communication are powerful tools. By empowering our employees, sharing our insights, and promoting a company-wide safety-first mindset, we’ve built a model that can keep in step with innovation.