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E. H. Harriman Award

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The E.H. Harriman Award was an annual award presented to American railroad companies in recognition for outstanding safety achievements.

Contents

History

The award was founded in 1913 by Mary Averell Harriman, wife of the late Edward H. Harriman. After her death, the award was presented by her sons E. Roland Harriman and W. Averell Harriman. Today the award is sponsored by the E.H. Harriman Memorial Awards Institute. UP announced on January 5, 2012 to their employees that after the 2012 award ceremony that the Harriman award will be retired. This is after 98 years of being awarded. This was decision was by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Criticism

While the awards were intended to encourage safe operating practices and safety enhancements, the awards have also occasionally been the source of some labor disputes. Part of the award criteria has been a count of the number of reported workplace injuries as tracked by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA); this has led to disciplinary action and even dismissal for employees at some railroads. Several rail labor unions objected to the criteria, going so far as to picket the award ceremonies. Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes (BMWE) General Chairman Paul Beard created the "Harassment Award" as a satire of the Harriman Awards to raise awareness of management practices that bred intimidation and disciplinary actions against reporting accidents. In 1999 the FRA invited discussions with representatives of rail labor unions to discuss the problem.

Recipients

Railroad companies are grouped into one of four categories:

  • Group A railroads are line-haul railroads with greater than 15 million employee hours per year.
  • Group B railroads are line-haul railroads with between 4 and 15 million employee hours per year.
  • Group C railroads are line-haul railroads with less than 4 million employee hours per year.
  • Group S&T railroads are switching and terminal railroads

    • The award presentations are normally made in May of the year after the award designation; for example, the 2004 awards were presented in May 2005. Past recipients of the E.H. Harriman Award were:

    References

    E. H. Harriman Award Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA