Safety First

I know. It's been a few days since I've posted. I've been doing a lot of prayer and contemplation these days about where I'm at and what's going on. This isn't too uncommon, especially around this time of year. Retreat, rethinking, re-evaluating, whatever you want to call it, it's going to take me a little more time.

In the meantime, those who know me best know that I've got a thing for railroads. I happened across this Santa Fe "Safety First" poster recently and saw that it crosses over to what I usually post here.


It's not commonly known that railroads were among the first companies to put in a systematic approach to worker safety. Safety First was started in 1912 in response to state liability laws beginning to hold them accountable for employee deaths and injuries while on the job. Before that, it wasn't uncommon for a larger railroad to kill 100 men in a single year in accidents. One of the first reasons employers found to encourage a safety mindset in their working men was there at home every night. "Remember the little ones" was all the reason men needed to take the extra precautions to save their lives and limbs. This campaign, along with the implementation of the automatic coupler, drastically reduced casualties and Safety First can still be seen in maintenance buildings and workrooms of today's railroads.

Remember the little ones... works for me.