KCS’s Shreveport Operation Receives ISO Certification
Written by Carolina Worrell, Senior Editor
Kansas City Southern (KCS) on Dec. 13 announced that its Shreveport, La. Operation has received International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification for 14001 (Environmental) and 45001 (Occupational Health and Safety).
According to the Class I, the process of achieving this certification at Shreveport Yard, which was initiated in 2019, by ISO, an independent, non-governmental international organization with a membership of 167 national standards bodies, began with the creation of “a practical, usable Healthy, Safety and Environmental (HSE) Management System that is aligned to KCS’s business and way of doing work.”
The system, which was developed to be adaptable and transferrable to other KCS locations throughout the railroad’s U.S. and Mexico network, is “structured so that health, safety and environmental risk is proactively addressed and embedded in business operations, allowing KCS to have justifiable confidence in risk management processes,” the Class I said.
According to KCS, ISO 45001 “specifies requirements for an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system that helps organizations proactively improve their OH&S performance and, in the process, provide safer and healthier workplaces by preventing work-related illness and injury.” Additionally, ISO 14001 “sets out criteria for implementing an effective environmental management system so that organizations can reduce environmental impact, including pollution and carbon footprint.”
“KCS is playing a leading role in the railroad industry of pursuing and securing ISO certification for health, safety and environmental management systems and I’m so proud of the team’s efforts to continuously evaluate, measure and improve the safety of our operation for employees, customers and the communities we serve,” said KCS Vice President Health, Safety and Environmental Kayden Howard.
