only 9.4 percent of the manhours. Carmen accounted for 8 percent of the injuries and 7.8 percent of the manhours. These four crafts also accounted for over 65 percent of the lost work days.

Figure 16 shows that the injury rate trends for yardmen and road trainmen have not changed significantly since 1975. However, the injury rate trends for trackmen and carmen have increased significantly since 1975. The injury rate for trackmen increased by 92 percent. The injury rate for carmen increased by 67 percent. It is unknown what portion of this increase is due to improved reporting.

The most critical cause categories were identified by use of a frequency/severity index. Stumbled, slipped, tripped or fell was identified as the most critical cause category. This was followed by use of tools, handling material, getting on and off equipment, striking or struck by equipment structures or material, coupling or uncoupling, handling ties, operating switches, struck by flying or falling objects, operating hand brakes, slack action, and motor vehicle accidents. Figure 17 shows the percentage of injuries for each of these cause categories. Note that the top four cause categories accounted for nearly 50 percent of all injuries. They also accounted for nearly 50 percent of all lost work days.

Figure 18 shows the injury rate trends for the four most critical cause categories. The category, stumbled, slipped, tripped or fell, had a 70 percent increase in the number of injuries per million manhour since 1975. Again, it is unknown what portion of this increase is due to improved reporting.

Figure 19 presents a summary of the percentage of injuries associated with each of the occurrence codes which make up the cause categories. Some of the findings from this figure are listed below.

Foreign objects or irregular surfaces were the most significant cause of stumbling and falling injuries.

Hand tools accounted for 42 percent of the injuries associated with use of tools. Handling material by hand was the largest single cause of injuries associated with handling material.

Losing footing was the most significant cause of injuries associated with getting on and off.

There is a lack of detail in the cause category, striking or struck by equipment structures or material. Fifty-three percent of the cases were coded as striking or struck by equipment structures or material.

Adjusting coupler was the largest single cause of injuries associated with coupling or uncoupling.

Inserting or removing ties using hand tools was the largest single cause of injuries associated with handling ties.

Lining switches was the largest single cause of injuries associated with operating switches. However, 59 percent of the cases in this category were not classified by use of a specific occurrence code.

Slack action in the caboose was the largest single cause of injuries associated with slack action. However, 54 percent of the injuries in this category were not classified by use of a specific occurrence code.

Losing hold was the largest single cause of injuries associated with operating hand brakes. However, 77 percent of the injuries in this category were not classified by use of a specific occurrence code having to do with the operation of hand brakes. Note that in many of the cause categories identified above, a large percentage of the cases were coded as not classified. This suggests that there is either a lack of appropriate occurrence codes to describe the occurrence or the individuals who are coding the injuries are not using the existing occurrence codes properly or there may be a combination of these two problems.

Table 3 shows the percentage of all injuries by cause and craft categories. From previous figures we know that carmen accounted for 8 percent of all injuries. This table shows that stumbled, slipped, tripped and fell, use of tools, and handling material are the most significant causes of injuries to carmen; and these causes account for 4.3 percent of all injuries. Road trainmen accounted for 18 percent of all injuries. The most significant causes of injuries to road trainmen are stumbled, slipped, tripped and fell, slack action, coupling or uncoupling, getting on or off equipment, and operating switches. These cause categories accounted for 11 percent of all injuries. Yardmen accounted for 22 percent of all injuries. Stumbled, slipped, tripped or fell, coupling and uncoupling, getting on and off, operating hand brakes, and operating switches are the most significant injuries to yardmen. These cause categories account for 15.3 percent of all injuries. This table also points out that the complete elimination of any one of the highest-ranked safety problems would improve overall rail safety by only a few percentage points.