Page 3 - April 2023 Track N Times

FEATURE STORY

Eye Care Update

By Sam Madsen, Manager Rail Grinding

Well, the first quarter of 2023 is about to end and we all need to be thinking of all our Safety Initiatives that have
been outlined in our Safety IN-GAGED Panel. Which brings me to the Eye Care portion of our Safety IN-GAGED
Panel.

As you can see from the graph below, we are trending in the wrong direction compared to 2022 but we need to be
diligent in our progress to end 2023 on a positive note. What can we do to keep going the right direction? First,
ensure everyone is using the right PPE for the job they are doing and following the Eye Care Standards. Second,
communicate with your crew that if they have any irritation in their eye to contact the acting supervisor immediate-
ly to have them look at the eye.
Remember if you have a piece of dust or metal in your eye the only way it will go away is if someone makes go away
by removing it or flushing it out of your eye. If you get something in your eye and don’t get it removed right away it
only takes hours for your eye to start healing over the foreign body.

What: Prior to 2015 dust in eye injuries through the years was an injury attributed to rail grinding due to the
amount of dust transmitted from grinding. Initiatives and efforts were taken to reduce dust in eye injuries, but over
time different items and processes were not effective.
So What: The more grinding that we do the trends of dust in eye injuries continue to go in the wrong direction.
This is not a favorable trend for our teams, we need to emphasize the proper use of PPE and utilize the processes
we have in place. Our customers are also concerned on our safety trend going the wrong way to the extent of neg-

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Page 1 APRIL 2023