Safety First BNSF Railway is a North American fright transportation company with over 32,000 miles of routes. BNSF hauls agricultural, consumer,...

Safety First

BNSF Railway is a North American fright transportation company with over 32,000 miles of routes. BNSF hauls agricultural, consumer, industrial products, and coal. BNSF puts safety above everything else it does, including productivity. BNSF recognizes that safety is based on having well trained employees who share BNSF's vision for an injury and accident free workplace and who are willing to look out for one another. Thanks to our employee's commitment, a carefully maintained network and equipment, and well prepared communities, BNSF is a safety leader in the rail industry.

Approaching Others About Safety(AOAS) is a training program for all BNSF Railway employees. The goal of the program is for BNSF employees to be confident about giving feedback to each other about safe behavior and avoiding unsafe situations. Employees need to learn the value of providing feedback when they see unsafe behavior or situations, including positively recognizing when someone is working safely or correcting them when they perceive another employee is at risk. Training should focus on the types of exposure that tend to result in most injuries, including walking/path of travel around trains, rails, and equipment, pinch points between the railway cars and climbing or descending locomotives and railway cars.

Question:

What are the different types of instructional characteristics that this program should have for learning and transfer to occur resulting in a decrease in injuries and accident and would these characteristics vary depending on who was attending the program (e.g., managers, train crew, employees who maintain track, structures, or signals)? If so, how would they vary?