E. H. Harriman Award

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

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.

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.^[1] 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

• Association of American Railroads (May 19, 2005), Railroads Set Another Employee Safety Record in 2004. E. H. Harriman Memorial Awards Honors Outstanding Performance in Rail Safety. Retrieved January 11, 2006.
• Association of American Railroads (reprinted by Norfolk Southern Railway) (2006-05-16). "Railroads Set Another Employee Safety Record in 2005". http://www.nscorp.com/nscorp/application;JSESSIONID_nscorp=E0D2wDZLZ8t844Gn6WZDlSVqmCEM2UEJtEicpNZ1tBcpy4wFlISk!-1862265230?origin=content.jsp&event=bea.portal.framework.internal.refresh&pageid=NS+News&contentId=english/nscorp/news/whats_new/whats_new/news051606.html. Retrieved 2006-05-24. 
• Belt Railway of Chicago (2005), The Belt Railway of Chicago: Safety. Retrieved January 11, 2006.
• BNSF Railway (May 19, 2005), BNSF Wins E.H. Harriman Memorial Silver Safety Award. Retrieved January 11, 2006.
• Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad (May 12, 2000), IHB Railroad wins award for improved safety performance. Retrieved January 11, 2006.
• Kansas City Southern (May 8, 2001), KCS and Gateway Western Receive Gold E.H. Harriman Memorial Safety Awards. Retrieved January 11, 2006.
• Metra (May 23, 2003), Metra earns two Harriman Awards. Retrieved January 11, 2006.
• Norfolk Southern Railway, Norfolk Southern Earns 16th Consecutive Harriman Rail Safety Award. Retrieved January 11, 2006.
• Terminal Railroad Association Harriman Gold Medal Award Winner. Retrieved January 11, 2006.