CARE Program For Engineers & Conductors

History

The CARE Program was started back in 1996 by John Tolman, who is now a BLET Vice-President and  the National Legislative Representative in Washington, D. C.  He enlisted the help of Engineers Gemma Curran ( now retired), Joe Burgess (now an Amtrak Road Foreman) & Walter Nutter.  We four made an informal agreement with the local Amtrak management to participate in a class for Critical Incident Stress Debriefing at the Boston Police Academy.  In this agreement, the company paid the lost wages for the four attendees, and BLET Division 57 paid for the tuition.  The class was held in a classroom in Hyde Park, and was made up of police officers, firefighters, EMT's,  nurses--and we four railroad engineers.  Thus began what was to be one of the first CARE programs for railroad workers in the country.  In the beginning we worked without a formal CARE agreement, but managed to get the cooperation of the Amtrak commuter rail management to allow affected engineers time off with pay following a fatality. 

A short time later, the BLET Massachusetts State Legislative Board, led by Chairman George Newman, convinced the Rhode Legislature to pass a bill requiring railroads in that state to allow engineers time off following a fatality.  Amtrak's corporate headquarters were reportedly very unhappy about this turn of events, and went into negotiations with  BLET General Chairman Mark Kenny to develop some language to get a handle on what they saw as a growing problem.  The CARE policy that ensued was the direct result of Brother Newman's hard work in Rhode Island, along with a great deal of help from Division 57 legislative Representative Dan Lauzon.  That policy has since become an agreement, and now includes coverage for conductors as well as engineers.  Unfortunately, Assistant Conductors are still not covered by the CARE Agreement, but management generally gives them time off on a case-by-case basis, depending upon the circumstances of the incident.

What It Is

The CARE Program comes into play following a fatality.  A member of the CARE Team will be notified by the railroad of an incident, with some general details of what happened, and with a list of crew members involved.  The CARE Team will then set out to contact each member of the crew and speak to them about their experience.  CARE Team members are all trained in "Peer Support" and have been involved in fatalities themselves.  The team members are not there to judge the crew on their actions, whether right or wrong, at the time of the incident, nor are they facilitators for getting anyone time off.  Those are functions that belong to management.  Our role is simply to help co-workers transition through a rough time, help them understand that their reactions to the incident are the normal reactions that are to be expected of anyone in such a situation.  We are also  trained to recognize when someone might need a little more help than a Peer Supporter can provide, and we know where to get that help. 

why do we need it?

We believe that the average engineer, over the course of a 25-30 year career, will be involved in 3 fatalities.  Some will have more, some less  ( Boston's Commuter Rail has about 5-6 fatalities per year).   Research has shown that left untreated, the reactions to these incidents can lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,  much the same, though not nearly as severe, as soldiers get following exposure to war violence.  Fortunately for us, Peer Support has been shown to be the most effective remedy for most people (it should be noted here that some people need no support, while others need more, than Peer Support can offer).  For more information, contact one of the CARE Team members (click link below).

Walter Nutter
Director, BLET CARE Program

CARE Team
CARE Agreement
National Public Radio Interview with Walter Nutter (Links to NPR website)