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  • Big Brother's Latest Plaything

  • For topics on Class I and II passenger and freight operations more general in nature and not specifically related to a specific railroad with its own forum.
For topics on Class I and II passenger and freight operations more general in nature and not specifically related to a specific railroad with its own forum.

Moderator: Jeff Smith

 #1465247  by Gilbert B Norman
 
"Big Brother is watching"; from Today's Journal:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/drones-are- ... 1521028800" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fair Use:
..Union Pacific Corp. UNP riled employees recently when it started flying drones over some of its railroad yards to ensure workers were following safety guidelines ensure workers were following safety guidelines.

The aerial spotters were looking for any number of behaviors that deviate from the railroad’s rule book, from passing between railcars that are less than 100 feet apart to climbing off moving equipment.

The response from the railroad workers’ union? Urging the rank and file to flood Union Pacific’s safety hotline with complaints that the drones make their jobs more dangerous.

Workers say that rather than promote safety, the drones create a hazard by distracting them when they should be laser-focused while around 200-ton locomotives and railcars moving along the tracks, according to Steve Simpson, general chairperson with the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers. “They are no longer looking ahead or at their task at hand,” he said. “They’re looking up
I would guess our Agreement colleagues will have full access, if denied by the Journal, to this material through their House Organs.

OK; it's their property, and it is their prerogative to surveill such in any manner seen fit. Now despite the denials by the several industry spokesmen that the objective is to keep employees safe, when will the day come, if not already, that the surveillance material is admitted at.a "Fair and impartial...." and with assessed discipline being upheld.
 #1496784  by Engineer Spike
 
Gee Gilbert, all-in-all, I think that the railroad is becoming more and more of an adult nursery school. How has the industry successfully run for the last 180 years or so without the eye in the sky? Guys were entrusted to behave with their own diligence to duty. Yes there have been many accidents which have resulted from those who did not, but then again they would need a watcher of the eye, for every employee, every hour of duty. Who knows what the real answer is.
 #1496812  by eolesen
 
Most employees in my industry (airlines) operate in an environment where closed-circuit TV is used on almost every square inch of the bag-room and operations area. You'd be surprised how many accidents and situations are prevented because someone notices something on camera that never got reported by a ramp worker (e.g. missing fire bottles, doors left unsecured, bags dropped off of a cart and left in a blind corner that could be hit by another tractor).

Eventually, a drone will discover something along the wayside or in a far flung corner of a yard that prevents an accident or saves a life i.e. an employee who collapses between the tracks...
 #1497226  by Jeff Smith
 
Very common to have surveillance in all kinds of industry, from retail to warehousing to other forms of transportation. Cab cameras, etc. Do I like such? Not really. But what protections are available in the private sector? Even in the public, in call centers? I got written up once for walking out of a break area still on the phone with my girls, even though I was still on break and just hanging up.