Railroad worker injuries get special legal treatment under federal law.
This year’s Rail Safety Week focuses upon increasing public awareness of the dangers facing the public in deadly train crashes involving railroads and pedestrians; bicyclists; and drivers of all varieties of motor vehicles. For more, read our previous post, “Fatal Railroad Accidents: National Rail Safety Week is September 22 -28, 2019.”
Equally important is a discussion of the risks and dangers facing those who work on trains and for railroad companies. Railroaders face a high risk of serious injury or death while working on the job here in Indiana and Illinois.
Those employed in the railroad industry face complex working environments where heavy machinery is involved alongside toxic chemicals, electricity, and various hazards. Railroaders must begin each day with awareness they face a risk of catastrophic injury or death simply because of the type of work they do.
What Do Railroaders Do?
Railroad workers are employed in all sorts of jobs with the overall goal of getting the train from its starting point to its destination on schedule. They may work on passenger trains (think Amtrak) or on freight trains (carrying cargo).
Railroaders include those who actually drive the trains themselves; those who work on the trains as they move along the rails; those who coordinate a number of trains as they travel on a spider web of tracks; and those who work in the rail yard, operating signals and switches.
Railroad work involves tasks in three general categories:
- Monitoring the physical condition of the train itself, maintaining and repairing as needed;
- Documenting any issue that needs inspection; and
- Operating the train as it moves between locations on the railway.
Railroaders work as a team. Engineers work alongside conductors, for example. Railroader job titles include:
- Locomotive engineers;
- Locomotive firers;
- Conductors;
- Dispatchers;
- Yardmasters;
- Yard Engineers;
- Signal and Switch Operators; and
- Brake Operators.
Understandably, railroaders face a high risk of injury or death on the job as they work with these huge vehicles, which can travel at great speeds along the railroad track. Special circumstances of this work bring increased dangers to the rail worker here in Illinois and Indiana.
For instance, throughout Illinois and Indiana, long trains carrying hazardous cargo bring additional perils to railroaders responsible for this transport. For more, read: “Dangerous Cargo on Freight Trains Moving Through Indiana and Illinois: Risk of Fatal Train Accidents.”
There is also the risk of an error on the job, where fellow workers are put in jeopardy. For more, read “Danger to Railroad Workers from Sleep Apnea: Proposed Regulations Withdrawn.”
Railroaders Cannot File Claims Like Other Workers in Illinois and Indiana
While most workers on the job in Illinois and Indiana can look to state law for justice in the aftermath of a serious or fatal work-related injury, railroaders cannot. This is because Congress has stepped in, and created special federal laws that provide for injured railroad workers.
Under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), anyone injured or killed while on the job as a railroader must look to federal law for financial compensation in the aftermath of the rail accident. The railroader and his loved ones must file a “FELA claim,” and this must comply with the specific requirement of the federal legislation.
Exceptions here? Only if the railroad company operates entirely within a single state’s jurisdiction and does not meet the FELA definition of an interstate railroad company.
FELA has a longstanding history in our country, having been initially passed at the turn of the 20th Century when Congress found working on a railroad to be so extremely dangerous that justice required a uniform statutory system to protect injured railroaders and their families. See, e.g., “Epstein, Richard A. “The historical origins and economic structure of workers’ compensation law.” Ga. L. Rev. 16 (1981): 775.
Common Causes for Serious or Fatal Railroad Worker Injuries
Working in the railroad yards or on the trains moving through Indiana and Illinois brings a danger to railroad workers that involve far more than any actual crash or collision along the train tracks. From studies undertaken by the Federal Railroad Administration, we know that serious or deadly injuries to rail road workers can involve:
- Slip and fall accidents on the train or next to it (in the yard, on the rails, etc.);
- Speeding by the train as it exceeds the speed limit for the locomotive in that particular location (e.g., urban areas, etc.);
- Failure to stop the train at a stop signal;
- Signal failures which prevent the train operator / conductor / engineer to be aware of vital information, including the need to slow or stop the train;
- Failures of the train equipment, including brakes failing to work properly when the train is slowing or stopping;
- Failures of track equipment, including missing crossties, which can cause derailments;
- Toxic fumes or gases being released from faulty tanker cars improperly maintained or repaired;
- Toxic fumes or gases being released from tanker cars damaged in a collision;
- Collisions or accidents at a roadway crossing involving a collision with a motor vehicle on the road; and
- Trespassers entering into restricted zones along the track, the platform, or in the train.
Justice for Railroaders Hurt on the Job in Illinois and Indiana
Those employed as railroaders enjoy challenging work in a historically revered industry here in our part of the country. While the Office of Railroad Safety of the Federal Railroad Administration oversees the local rail industry with its regional office in Chicago and a national staff exceeding 400 safety inspectors, the sad reality is that all too often railroaders are exposed to serious risks of injury or death.
Neglectful conduct by railroad companies can, and does, cause serious injuries and needless deaths of railroaders in this country. The employer’s failure to properly abide by safety regulations means injuries will occur, leaving railroaders and their families to face the aftermath of a severe rail accident.
For more, read “Railroad Safety Laws: the Danger of Fatal Train Crashes in Indiana.”
Railroader injury victims and their loved ones can seek redress under federal laws and regulations as FELA claims and can be assisted by advocates experienced in rail injury claim investigations and FELA filings. Please be careful out there!
