NFPA 70E is the National Fire Protection Association's regulation that "helps companies and employees avoid workplace injuries and fatalities due to shock, electrocution, arc flash, and arc blast." When OSHA came down on MBCR a few years ago over a variety of safety issues, it was disruptive to the entire operation, but it worked out in our favor. Requiring trained and properly equipped electricians to handle any electrical system that runs at over 50 volts, allowed us to push the company to create more electrician jobs.

Train sets often arrive at outside points in the afternoon and evening, well before the midnight electricians went on shift. These 70E regulations made it possible and necessary to add electricians to the afternoon shift at nearly all the outside points to plug in these sets. President Mannion filed a grievance using the argument that only electricians have the specialist training to do this job safely. For far too long, machinists had been doing this task at those locations and there was concern that we were taking their jobs, but of course that's not the case. We all have our responsibilities and its important that we ensure that no craft benefits at the expense of another. Nine new jobs were created this way. It is for this very reason that we must properly use our 70E PPE and ensure that we retain these jobs in the future.