Railroad Injuries: What to Do When Life Goes Off the Rails

Cleveland, OHIn spite of the overall decline of rail travel in recent times, as goods are increasingly shipped by truck, and human cargo travel by air or commute by cyberspace, the railroad continues to be one of the most dangerous industries in the nation, if recent litigated settlements are any indication.

And the dollars can be fairly substantial.

A rail worker whose hand was crushed while on the job was awarded damages and costs totalling U.S. $4.5 million. Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad in Rapid City, South Dakota are alleged to have made misrepresentations at trial, which was heard before a jury. Nonetheless, DM&E plans to appeal the award, which came down at the end of April, this year.

Another case tested the strength, and effectiveness -- indeed, the very future -- of the Federal Employee's Liability Act (FELA). Congress enacted FELA in 1908 as a means of protecting rail workers, and the families they support, against the dangers and risks of working on the rail lines.

Sometimes, those injuries don't happen on the rail lines at all, as was the case with Timothy Sorrell, a trackman with Norfolk Southern. The company vehicle he was driving was run off the road by another company vehicle. Nowhere near a train or a rail when it happened, the accident nonetheless caused injury to Sorrell, and subsequent litigation against the rail company resulted in a lower court award of U.S. $1.5 million. That decision was appealed to the U.S. Supreme court in a case that tested FELA, an entity that has continued to be an effective advocate for rail workers, but has overstayed its' welcome for rail companies.

The decision, handed down early this year, upheld the lower court decision and solidified the role of FELA -- 99 years after it came into being.

Aside from the potential physical dangers of working in and around trains, there are also the hazards of exposure to chemicals, some of which were banned from use a long time ago but may still be around.

Just ask anyone who's ever taken delivery of reclaimed, creosote-laced railway ties for use as borders for driveways, walkways and gardens.The black goo oozes from the wood like a lethal virus, and provides a hint about the kinds of chemical hazards -- some of that soup containing asbestos and PCBs -- faced almost daily by people working in the rail industry.

Various pulmonary illnesses and other lung conditions brought on by years of unprotected exposure to dust and other particulates can have lasting effects, and many cannot be treated. Akin to working in the coal mines, a career on the railroad can be a recipe for life-threatening health maladies that can affect life, livelihood, and loved ones.

Some attempts to litigate appear, on the surface at least, to be just plain frivolous when compared to what others have had to go through when caught on the wrong side of the tracks.

A man who maintained rail for the Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railway Co. injured his knee while stepping down from a locomotive just before Christmas last year, and is claiming the company to be negligent. He's suing for physical pain and suffering in the past and future, mental anguish in the past and future, lost wages, loss of earning capacity, physical impairment in the past and future, and past and future medical expenses. He must have one sore knee.

That notwithstanding, no one would argue the dangers and risks, past or present, associated with toiling at the front lines of the railway, and the injuries and impact on health that may ensue.

It's nice to know that a still-robust FELA is still around to help the brotherhood, when a brother is hobbled, in some way, on the job.

A pause for comfort when an accident or ill health forces life, as you know it, to go off the rails.