CSX Employee Wins Industry Lifetime Achievement Award For Hazardous Material Safety

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., May 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- CSX's Romano DeSimone has been awarded the Association of American Railroad (AAR) Holden-Proefrock Award for his significant career achievements and contributions to the safe transportation of hazardous materials by rail.  

"CSX puts safety at the forefront of everything we do, and Romano has personified this commitment through his leadership and courage," said Skip Elliott, vice president, public safety, health and environment. "Romano's achievements, especially his visionary leadership of safety training programs, have made a lasting impact on our culture and our relationships with the communities we serve."

Over the course of more than 30 combined years with CSX and Conrail, DeSimone developed significant response experience with hazardous materials, including his tenure as a Field Hazmat responder in New York and his first-response efforts at various rail incidents. He also led CSX's chemical safety team, where he focused on improving the safe loading and unloading of chemicals at customer sites.

Currently, DeSimone serves as director, hazardous materials, where he leads CSX's team of Hazardous Materials Managers and has maintained an injury free record for his team's response efforts over 25 years.

DeSimone has become a recognized leader for equipping emergency responders with the information and skills needed for safe and effective responses to rail-related incidents. While he was a Board Member of the Firefighters Education and Training Foundation, he spearheaded the development of Safety Train programs to bring hands-on training to local communities. Through the Safety Train, DeSimone and his team have provided thousands of first responders, law enforcement, short line railroads, and customers with information and experience to improve their readiness in case of an incident. Most recently, his team led the CSX Safety Train: Emergency Preparedness Program in 2014, which trained more than 2,000 emergency first responders in 18 cities along CSX's crude oil routes.

The award was presented on Tuesday morning in Addison, Texas at the 28th Hazmat Seminar hosted by the AAR and Bureau of Explosives. It is named for Roy Holden and Art Proefrock, pioneers in the safe rail transportation of hazardous materials, and is awarded annually to recognize lifetime achievement in this field. DeSimone is the fourth CSX employee to receive the Holden-Proefrock Award.

At the same ceremony, DeSimone and CSX employee Harry Hopes also received the TRANSCAER (Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response) Torch award, which is given to retiring members who have made a significant contribution to this voluntary national outreach effort focused on preparation and response for hazardous material transportation incidents.

About CSX

CSX, based in Jacksonville, Florida, is a premier transportation company.  It provides rail, intermodal and rail-to-truck transload services and solutions to customers across a broad array of markets, including energy, industrial, construction, agricultural, and consumer products.  For nearly 190 years, CSX has played a critical role in the nation's economic expansion and industrial development.  Its network connects every major metropolitan area in the eastern United States, where nearly two-thirds of the nation's population resides.  It also links more than 240 short-line railroads and more than 70 ocean, river and lake ports with major population centers and farming towns alike.  More information about CSX Corporation and its subsidiaries is available at www.csx.com.  Like us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/OfficialCSX) and follow us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/CSX).

SOURCE CSX Corporation

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