Railroad companies have penalized workers for taking the time to make needed repairs and created a culture in which supervisors threaten and fire the very people hired to keep trains running safely. Regulators say they can’t stop this intimidation.
Many industries have discovered the costs of not doing safety first are higher in the long run. You have to pay more workers comp insurance, you have to train replacement workers for those who are injured, you have to scrap/replace parts destroyed, and when someone is injured it affects moral and so your people don’t work well.
Railroads are throwing money away by not putting safety first - they just don’t realize it.
What profit-driven industry doesn’t do the same?
This is a capitalism “profits first, last and always” problem, not specifically a railroad problem.
Many industries have discovered the costs of not doing safety first are higher in the long run. You have to pay more workers comp insurance, you have to train replacement workers for those who are injured, you have to scrap/replace parts destroyed, and when someone is injured it affects moral and so your people don’t work well.
Railroads are throwing money away by not putting safety first - they just don’t realize it.
Not a single industry actually puts safety first. Some take safety more seriously than others, but that’s it.