If you’re looking for information about repetitive stress and cumulative trauma injuries, then this is a good article to peruse. For example, 65 percent of cumulative trauma injuries affect the back.
As a Virginia railroad accident injury attorney I was recently working on a FELA case where a railroad worker got hurt while wearing a remote control device. The conductor was dismounting a rail car and the ill-fitting remote control unit knocked him off the ladder. The question arose whether it was a Locomotive Inspection Act…
The technology has only been in wide use since approximately 2001, but has already had a major affect on the railroad work environment, particularly in the yards like rocky Mount, North Carolina (NC) and Richmond, Virginia (VA). In the past, these shoving movements were done by certified engineers who could operate the smaller locomotives in the yard to push or pull the cuts of cars around. This job used to be called the hostler job or yard engineer. My understanding is that in the near future the major freight carriers will try to have remote control used on the road as well, meaning outside of yards. The companies’ goal is to reduce crew sizes which are already down to two workers per huge train to only one worker. This would mean that the freight train barreling through your neighborhood at a highway road crossing would be going down the tracks without even two human beings to ensure safety. Welcome to the brave new world of modern corporate railroading where cost savings come first.
What Virginia Railroads Knew About Repetitive Stress Injuries That You Didn’t
Railroads have been hit with millions of dollars in sanctions by OSHA over the past year for improperly handling workers who report workplace injuries.