I work for a company with a fierce safety culture. We recognize safety is a competitive differentiator for our customers, and that safe workplaces make for jobs that come in on budget and on time — not to mention protecting our greatest asset, our people.
That said, even we wouldn’t go so far as this:
Gettleman’s ordeal began Aug. 15, when the eight-year Amtrak veteran noticed a passenger on the Capitol Corridor train to the Bay Area behaving strangely. The man kept pacing up and down, appeared to be high on drugs, and had been drinking both wine and Jim Beam bourbon sold on the train. […] Emeryville cops were dispatched to the Amtrak station to greet the high-flying passenger. As the train pulled into the Emeryville station, the man started to stumble down the stairs to the doorway.
“Me and another passenger grabbed him to prevent him from breaking his neck,” Gettleman told us. Another passenger joined in to steady the inebriant and to help escort him off the train, where he was handed off to a pair of station agents. In the process, however, Gettleman wrenched her right arm and scratched her wrist.
When she showed up to work the next day and reported her injuries, Amtrak sent her to a doctor, as required under law. It took a month of physical therapy before her doctor cleared her to return to work. But before she could set foot back on Amtrak property, her bosses mailed her a letter in mid-September informing her that she was being brought up on Railroad Labor Act safety charges — namely, allowing herself to get hurt in helping the passenger.
The letter cited her alleged violation of the General Code of Operating Rules, which states that “employees must be careful to prevent injuring themselves or others. They must be alert and attentive when performing their duties and plan their work to avoid injury.” A few days later, a second letter arrived with even more stunning news. Amtrak notified Gettleman it was moving to fire her for being “accident-prone” — citing four injuries over her eight years on the job as evidence of “extreme negligence” on her part.
What a fine devotion to customer service — not to mention employee motivation — Amtrak is displaying here. Bravo.