ASLRRA values safe practices across our industry and recognizes railroad members for their safety achievements. ASLRRA's annual President's Awards and Jake Awards are based on safety performance as reported by the Federal Railroad Administration. The Safety Person of the Year and Safety Professional of the Year are nominated by member railroads and recognized at ASLRRA's Annual Conference each spring.
If you are interested in sponsoring the Safety Awards, visit our sponsorship page for more information, or contact ASLRRA's meetings team at meetings@aslrra.org.
ASLRRA gives out two awards every year based on nomination criteria. These awards are as follows:
The Safety Person of the Year Award recognizes an employee of an ASLRRA Class II or Class III member railroad who works with management on effective safety programs, exhibits a high degree of safety awareness and contributes off-duty time to activities promoting safety awareness in the community.
A safety person candidate would be any railroad employee at any level, except those considered to be professional safety management employees, whose actions consistently show a dedication to safe performance on the railroad. In other words, a safety person is someone who has multiple jobs or responsibilities, with safety being part of what they do.
The Safety Professional of the Year is open to any professional safety management employee of an ASLRRA Class II or Class III member railroad who is responsible for safety programs, training and the overall management of safe behavior and actions on their railroad(s). In other words, a safety professional is someone whose job is safety on a full-time basis. Examples include manager of training, director of safety and operations, safety manager, head of safety and training, etc.
To be eligible for both Jake and President's awards, ASLRRA member railroads must complete Form F 6180.55 (Railroad Injury and Illness Summary) for all twelve months of the applicable year as well as any required accident/incident reporting forms. Those incident forms are submitted with 6180.55 on a case-by-case basis depending on the nature of each incident.
More detailed information, including a guide covering all applicable forms can be found on the FRA Safety Data site.
To review 2025 Employee on Duty Safety Metrics for all eligible ASLRRA railroad members please click here. The group frequency rate of 2025 employee cases per 200,000 hours worked was 2.24.
Each fall, ASLRRA selects railroads achieving the most impressive safety records to receive the President’s Awards, based on safety data reported to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) in the previous year. In 2026, awardees will be recognized at the ASLRRA Super Regional Fall Meeting.
For 2026, sixteen President’s Award winners were chosen in three award categories, based on their safety performance. The member railroad must demonstrate safety performance at or below the group frequency rate for 2025 employee cases per 200,000 hours worked (2.24), same as the Jake Awards.
There are:
Awards are based on data submitted by railroads on their monthly FRA F6180.55 forms, as well as any required accident/incident reporting forms in 2025. For more information on the award winners, and detailed eligibility requirements for each award type, please click here.
The Jake Awards fall into two categories:
Congratulations to this year's ASLRRA Jake Award Winners - based on 2025 data.
To learn more about the Jake Award’s namesake and creator, Lowell S. “Jake” Jacobson, click here.
