Railroad “Needs to Make Safety a Top Priority”

Recently the Federal Railroad Administration issued 199 citations to CSX for over 3000 safety violations. The Federal Railroad Administration administrator, Joseph Boardman, said in a statement that “the railroad is still not doing enough to make safety a top priority.” As a lawyer who represents railroad workers who are injured on the job, this safety problem comes as no surprise to me. Railroads are extremely dangerous places and the railroad does not do enough to ensure the safety of its workers. They often provide unsafe equipment and work enviroments that lead to serious injures to railroad workers. Unfortunately, railroad workers are not entitled to worker’s compensation to pay for their injuries; instead, they must file a lawsuit against their employer under a federal law known as the Federal Employer Liability Act, known as FELA. While the railroad continues to deny that it has serious safety problems, the federal government and Kentucky juries see things completely differently.