| Internal Control Plans.
(a) Each railroad shall adopt and comply with a written
Internal Control Plan that shall be maintained at the office where the railroad's
reporting officer conducts his or her official business. Each railroad shall amend its
Internal Control Plan, as necessary, to reflect any significant changes to the railroad's
internal reporting procedures. The Internal Control Plan shall be designed to maintain
absolute accuracy and shall include, at a minimum, each of the following components:
(1) A policy statement declaring the railroad's commitment to
complete and accurate reporting of all accidents, incidents, injuries, and occupational
illnesses arising from the operation of the railroad, to full compliance with the letter
and spirit of FRA's accident reporting regulations, and to the principle, in absolute
terms, that harassment or intimidation of any person that is calculated to discourage or
prevent such person from receiving proper medical treatment or from reporting such
accident, incident, injury or illness will not be permitted or tolerated and will result
in some stated disciplinary action against any employee, supervisor, manager, or officer
of the railroad committing such harassment or intimidation.
(2) The dissemination of the policy statement; complaint
procedures. Each railroad shall provide to all employees, supervisory personnel, and
management the policy statement described in paragraph (a)(1). Each railroad shall have
procedures to process complaints from any person about the policy stated in paragraph
(a)(1) being violated, and to impose the appropriate prescribed disciplinary actions on
each employee, supervisor, manager, or officer of the railroad found to have violated the
policy. These procedures shall be disclosed to railroad employees, supervisors, managers,
and officers. The railroad shall provide ``whistle blower'' protection to any person
subject to this policy, and such policy shall be disclosed to all railroad employees,
supervisors and management.
(3) Copies of internal forms and/or a description of the
internal computer reporting system used for the collection and internal recording of
accident and incident information.
(4) A description of the internal procedures used by the
railroad for the processing of forms and/or computerized data regarding accident and
incident information.
(5) A description of the internal review procedures
applicable to accident and incident information collected, and reports prepared by, the
railroad's safety, claims, medical and/or other departments engaged in collecting and
reporting accident and incident information.
(6) A description of the internal procedures used for
collecting cost data and compiling costs with respect to accident and incident
information.
(7) A description of applicable internal procedures for
ensuring adequate communication between the railroad department responsible for submitting
accident and incident reports to FRA and any other department within the railroad
responsible for collecting, receiving, processing and reporting accidents and incidents.
(8) A statement of applicable procedures providing for the
updating of accident and incident information prior to reporting to FRA and a statement of
applicable procedures providing for the amendment of accident and incident information as
specified in the ``FRA Guide for Preparing Accidents/Incidents Reports.''
(9) A statement that specifies the name and title of the
railroad officer responsible for auditing the performance of the reporting function; a
statement of the frequency (not less than once per calendar year) with which audits are
conducted; and identification of the site where the most recent audit report may be found
for inspection and photocopying.
(10)(i) A brief description of the railroad organization,
including identification of:
(A) All components that regularly come into possession of
information pertinent to the preparation of reports under this part (e.g., medical,
claims, and legal departments; operating, mechanical, and track and structures
departments; payroll, accounting, and personnel departments);
(B) The title of each railroad reporting officer;
(C) The title of each manager of such components, by
component; and
(D) All officers to whom managers of such components are
responsible, by component.
(ii) A current organization chart satisfies paragraphs
(a)(10)(i) (B), (C), and (D) of this section.
(b) [Reserved]
[61 FR 30972, June 18, 1996, as amended at 61 FR 59371, Nov.
22, 1996; 61 FR 67491, Dec. 23, 1996] |