So I’m hanging around the UP yard in Roseville, CA today. Took about 40 pictures. I kept noticing around the maintenance shed, that some trains had hanging on them these blue signs that said “Safety First”. They were everywhere. They also had racks of these signs in places near the fueling stations, and other parts of the yards. If you look closely on the left side of the engine you can see one.
Why? Anyone know what the purpose is of these signs hanging from the trains? Other than the obvious reminder to be safe.
They’re hung on a loco, car or train by an employee working on that particular vehicle. The vehicle cannot be moved until the flag is removed, and the flag can only be removed by the employee who put it there. That way, you know the vehicle won’t move while you are on it or underneath it. It’s not just UP that does this, most railways throughout the world have a procedure the same or similair to this. Cheers, Mark.
In the fire dept I work on, we use a similar sign on trucks that are being serviced or preped so nobody will move or start the vehicle until it’s ready. Many of our trucks don’t use keys, just turn a switch and press a button.
On the rack in the second picture you can also see a blue lantern. This is used at night and has the same meaning as the blue flag, “Do not move or couple up to this (these) car(s). Persons working on or under.” This is sacred and ANY violation is cause for immediate dismissal! jc5729
uh, those are the blue flags that mean this track is out of service or this piece cannot be moved…
oh already answered…
can I add to the answers with my already similiar answer too?
I made some simple versions for the club, just real simple, paper clip and scotch tape and blue permink pen. poke into ballast or under rail-tie points
A little off the topic, but they serve the same purpose as the “Hold” cards in the electrical power industry. They are placed on electrical equipment that is being worked on so that it can’t be turned on, and on the switches and breakers controlling that equipment. They can be removed only by the person whose name is on the card. I suspect that most industries have similar procedures to prevent injury to people working on equipment.
More on topic, I seem to remember something about a blue wheel chock that is placed under the wheels of a railway car to prevent it from being moved.
Whatever practical benefit they may or may not have, I think it’s more about lawsuit prevention.
Ever notice how your toaster manual is now 1 page of operating instructions, and 8 pages of “Don’t stick tongue in slot,” or “Not intended for use as floatation device” [:D]
Its for safety. Not to move Loco be serviced or train. This is for the safety of train crews and maintinance worker. I have a few of them on static display loco’s in my maintinance yard. Would show some Pic’s but my camara has died.[:(]
In sawmills and the like, it is called “lock-out”. The piece of equipment is locked out physically with padlocks by all who are working on it. Only the person with the key (ie the person who placed the lock) is supposed to remove it. That way the equipment can not be used until all who were working on it are safely away.
OSHA calls the program Lock Out/Tag Out. Some such system is probably used in all industries that OSHA applys to, and that is most in the USA. I would hazard a guess that other countries have similar programs. I would assume that is a form of the Tag Out part, as the objects with the blue signs are not LOCKED OUT, only Tagged Out with the blue sign. There are slightly different procedures for the two procedures, suffice it to say that the biggest difference is the lock that is applied. I am the only person with my key, so no one can remove the Lock Out except me. It is against OSHA rules for anyone but me to have a key. I am not even allowed to have a duplicate. My Lock Out device consists of a metal hasp like device with six holes in it for padlocks. Every person working on the equipment puts their Lock Out device in place so everybody needs to remove their device before the equipment can be used. Now back to the railroad. I am an Electronics Technician and I work on letter sorting machines at the US Post Office. We do everything from changing computers to replacing roller bearings, belts, motors and whatever is necessary to keep these machines sorting the mail. We do Lock Out our equipment when necessary and we are regulated by OSHA. I would assume that the blue signs are not lock out devices as it would take a pretty big padlock to lock out a locomotive or track so it was safe to crawl under/between/on or otherwise render it safe to work on.
A locomotive or section of track with a blue sign is untouchable by anyone except the person who put it there, or so my Father always told me, and he retired from the C&O in the 70s. The Blue Signs have been used by the railroads since I was a little boy, and I am sure before that. It was in the mid 50s when I went to work with him so many times, up untill the late 60s that he told me about them. He was a hump yard conducter at Walbridge Ohio, and also was on drags of coal out to the Lake Front Docks in Toledo Ohi
You are quite correct about everyone having lockout systems. here in the UK we have a similar device to a blue flag in the form of a “Do Not Move” or “Not to be Moved” board which is red stripes on white with white wording. Even moving against stock with one of these attached is a summary dismisal offence and would easily also be a prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive if not the Transport Police. Criminal Negligence and Endangering life on the Railway are just two of the criminal charges you’d be looking at. These devices are not locked on as far as I have seen though.
There is a different “red card” which is a maintenance card for defective stock. This is solid red with “Not To Go” printed on it in large letters. Black IIRC. There also used to be (haven’t seen one in ages) a defective brakes “Not To Go” card. Stock that could roll to maintenance received different categories of “Green Card”. Anyone booked to light duties through illness or injury was refered to as being “green carded” and those people would commonly decline certain jobs on the grounds that they were “green carded”.
Track maintenance and even patrolling is carried out under what we call “possession” of the line. The person who takes the line (out of normal use) has to hand it on and advise who it has been handed on to to specified locations (the ones he took the line from) and only that person or the nominated replacement can give the line back.
The same applies for both overhead and 3rd rail electrification. Only nominated persons may take maintenance isolations (as distinct from breakdowns and emergency isolations) and the same rules apply for hand back. Even an emergency isolation can only be given back or handed on by the original person taking it.
Elsewhere in industry I have seen all sorts of lock-out and permit-to-work arrangements. Sometime it takes more time to do the paperwork and lockouts than to do the job but I w
