Out of some 54,000 employees, Curt Nystrom, a 22-year member of Local Lodge 436, Chicago & North Western System Federation, was selected to be the recipient of Union Pacific's J. C. Kenefick Safety Award for 1998. He was honored at an award presentation that opened UP's annual Safety Leadership Conference in Dallas in January.

Nystrom was featured in several articles by UP this year, including their employees' magazine INFO, a UP business newsletter and UP Update. The following article has been excerpted from those sources.

"Safety doesn't just happen, it's something you have to plan for and continue to plan for as you go along. Things change pretty rapidly when you're out here working," says Curt Nystrom who learned about safety from an expert close to his heart: his father.

Dean Nystrom was an engine technician for Northern Natural Gas Company in Ogden, Iowa, where he was in charge of compressor engines the size of buildings. "The gas was brought in at 700 pounds of pressure and then boosted at the compressor station to 960 pounds and sent to the next station," said Curt. "Sometimes I would visit my father at the plant, where employees worked at noise levels of more than 100 decibels. My dad gave me my first piece of safety gear -- hearing protection muffs. He went 35 years injury-free.

In addition, Nystrom's grandfather worked as a train dispatcher for the Chicago and North Western Railroad for 50 years and his brother Cris has worked as a conductor out of Boone for 27 years. "We share stories back and forth and talk about safety," Nystrom says. "It makes each of our jobs safer."

"Working on a crane, I know that I've been exposed to a lot more dangerous things than the typical employee," Nystrom said, recalling an incident that took place in Ames, Iowa in 1996. A 35-foot-high bridge that spanned a lake, constructed in the 1880s, had exposed pilings. Crews spent four hours pumping water from the lake. Before long, the roadbed began to sink.

"I was on the bridge when my supervisor yelled for me to get off. I backed out and was about 100 feet away when I saw a portion of the bridge fall down, no more than 30 seconds after I was off it. Since then, I've told a lot of people what happened. I always expect the unexpected. You have to cover all the bases, you have to be able to plan ahead."

Nystrom has authored 33 near-miss/unsafe work conditions and safety improvement projects, part of a program driving his department's safety success. "On numerous occasions he has resolved questions on proper On Track Safety (OTS) procedures for unusual circumstances," said Bart Culbertson, director of bridge maintenance. "Curt is not reluctant to question the company leaders on OTS issues."

Also a safety captain, Nystrom along with others, was influential in preparing an Emergency Response Book for his territory that details routes to hospitals, identifies bridges and lists emergency phone numbers.

Nystrom is also active as an Operation Lifesaver presenter, reaching about 1,500 elementary and driver's education students in one year. "If you tell them about the dangers while they're young, when they start driving a car they'll already know how dangerous it is," he says.

The key to safety, Nystrom believes, is being personally committed. He says, "Don't just do what you're told, but take on a personal commitment. Treat safety like a business. If we're in charge of that business, we know we'll do a good job at it. If we don't, the business is going to fail and people could get injured. It's that simple."