Both safety advocates and the railroad industry are expressing disappointment with new rules announced Friday by the U.S. Department of Transportation that are intended improve the safety of rail tank cars carrying crude oil and other flammable liquids.
The National Transportation Safety Board yesterday issued a series of recommendations to the Department of Transportation to address the safety risk of transporting crude oil by rail. In an unprecedented move, the NTSB issued the recommendations in coordination with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
I know that some people – perhaps many - believe that there is a “trade-off” between EHS and shareholder value. That is, that there is a “cost” to shareholders for achieving superior EHS performance. This is generally not true in my experience. As I will speak to later – I believe that EHS and financial performance more often than not move in the same direction.
