A Look at Industrial Rail Yard Plant Safety

Improve rail yard safety by mastering job briefings, managing inexperience, and shifting from reactive to proactive hazard management.

• By Russell York
• Feb 26, 2026

In the dynamic environment of industrial rail yards, safety is paramount. With the complex interplay of heavy machinery, moving vehicles and numerous personnel, maintaining a safe workplace is essential to prevent accidents and ensure efficiency.  

This article explores four critical components of rail yard safety: job briefings, the inexperience factor, the impact of on-the-job training and the balance between reactive and proactive management. By examining these facets, we aim to highlight best practices and contribute to a safer, more efficient rail yard environment.

According to a SOFA Working Group brief regarding close clearance, the possible contributing factors for more than 210 switching operations fatalities since 1992 have been identified. The most common findings in switching operations fatalities are:

• Inadequate job briefing accounts for 20%
• Inexperienced employees (who account for 22% of the fatalities)

Job Briefings

• Understand the importance of thorough communication.
• All crew members are equally responsible for seeing that a thorough job briefing is performed: at the beginning of the work and as the work changes.
• If other worker(s) join the crew, more job briefing(s) are required.
• Do not assume simple directives are fully understood.  Ask for input.   Ask for questions.   Be certain all involved fully understand.

Inexperience factor

• Each crew member is responsible for their own safety and the safety of others.
• Crew members are responsible for knowing the skill level of their fellow crew members and are responsible for helping the less experienced to ensure the tasks are performed safely.
• Crew members must not be assigned to duties for which they are not qualified. New switch crew employees must have paid special attention to safety awareness, service qualifications, on-the-job training, physical plant familiarity, and overall ability to perform service safely and efficiently.

How do your employees communicate with each other? Are they aware of the ability and skill limits of their coworkers? By addressing these two safety factors, you might be able to reduce your exposure that accounts for nearly half of all rail switching fatalities.

Quality of On-The-Job Training

Do you use on-the-job training for your employees in your rail plant yard? Certainly, skill and experience are important components when training new employees; however, we would like you to consider some disadvantages of on-the-job training when not performed properly.

Importance of Trainer Competence

A notable disadvantage of on-the-job training lies in its dependence on the quality of the trainer and their skills. An employee’s learning trajectory can be significantly influenced by the skill set and competency of the individual assigned to train them. Do your trainees have the skill set and knowledge of the Class One Railroad trainers?

A trainer with superior technical expertise may not necessarily possess the communication skills or patience to impart knowledge effectively. Conversely, a person with excellent teaching abilities may lack depth in the practical aspects of the job. This potential variance underlines the need to select and prepare those chosen to lead on-the-job training carefully based on their trainer's skillset.

Lack of Theory

A deficiency in theoretical understanding can arise from over-reliance on on-the-job training. This training method is often intensely practical and hands-on, focusing on tasks and responsibilities specific to a given role. This lack of theory can hinder employees’ ability to adapt to new roles or understand complex problems outside of their routine duties.

Potential for Bad Habits

On-the-job training could also serve as a conduit for bad practices. If the trainer has developed poor work habits or shortcuts over time, these could be passed down to new employees. Without a proper checks-and-balances system in place, such patterns can become institutionalized. It may reduce work quality and create a risk-prone work culture.

Disruption to Productivity

Another consideration when deploying on-the-job training is the potential disruption to productivity levels. Initially, as employees learn new skills, the pace of work can slow significantly, impacting timelines and overall productivity levels. Effective risk assessments require the completion of classroom or online training before field work begins.

Inconsistency in Training

The risk of inconsistency in training is a significant concern. When multiple trainers provide instruction, they might offer different approaches, insights or even conflicting information. This variation could confuse trainees and compromise the uniformity and integrity of the training process, thereby diluting its effectiveness.

Reactive vs. Proactive Health and Safety Management

While many industrial operations rely on traditional safety protocols, the distinction between reactive and proactive management defines the long-term viability of a safety culture. Moving beyond mere compliance requires an understanding of how these two methodologies function—one as a response to failure and the other as a strategy for prevention. By analyzing both approaches, rail yard managers can better identify which internal systems prioritize immediate fixes and which foster enduring risk mitigation.

Reactive Health and Safety Management

When organizations use a reactive approach to health and safety management, they respond to incidents as they happen and take actions to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future. Standard EHS practices that use a reactive approach to managing incidents include:

• Incident reporting
• Incident investigations
• Health and safety training after an incident occurs

Proactive Health and Safety Management

When organizations use a proactive approach to health and safety management, they hope to reduce incidents by identifying and resolving workplace hazards before they happen. Standard EHS practices that use a proactive approach to prevent incidents include:

• Pre-incident investigations
• Predictive training and reviewing analytics
• Proactive audits and inspections
• Risk assessments

Conclusion

By prioritizing comprehensive job briefings and structured mentorship, rail yard managers can move beyond simple compliance to create a truly resilient and safer workplace for every crew member.