Legally reviewed by Colleen M. Blinkoff - Doran & Murphy, PLLC
You spent years working for the railroad.
Maybe you worked as a conductor, engineer, carman, machinist, trackman, signal maintainer, laborer, or in another railroad position. Maybe you spent your career around locomotives, railcars, shops, yards, terminals, or railroad maintenance facilities.
Over the years, you may have breathed diesel exhaust, worked around asbestos, used solvents or degreasers, encountered welding fumes or silica dust, or worked around other chemicals and substances.
Then you were diagnosed with cancer.
And now you may be asking a question that never occurred to you before:
Could something I was exposed to while working for the railroad have contributed to my cancer?
If you are a current or former railroad worker with cancer, that is a question worth asking.
It does not mean that your cancer was necessarily caused by your railroad work. Cancer can have many causes, and every person’s medical and occupational history is different.
But you may have spent decades in an environment that exposed you to substances or working conditions that deserve to be investigated.
And if railroad negligence contributed to your illness, you may have a claim under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA).
You Don’t Have to Know What Caused Your Cancer
One of the most important things to understand is that you do not need to figure out the cause of your cancer before you call an attorney.
In fact, you probably can’t.
You are a railroad worker—not an occupational hygienist, toxicologist, epidemiologist, or FELA lawyer.
You may know that you worked around diesel exhaust for 30 years. You may remember using certain chemicals in a shop. You may remember asbestos dust, welding fumes, or working in poorly ventilated areas.
But you may not know:
- Exactly what substances you were exposed to
- What was in the products you used
- How hazardous those substances were
- How much exposure you received
- Whether the railroad knew about the potential hazards
- What safety measures should have been in place
- Whether your exposure could have contributed to your particular cancer
- Whether the evidence is sufficient to support a FELA claim
Those are questions that can be investigated.
You don’t have to have the answers before you contact Doran & Murphy.
Think Back to Your Railroad Career
When someone receives a cancer diagnosis after a long railroad career, it can be difficult to know which parts of that career might matter.
That’s why a detailed work history can be so important.
Consider the places where you worked and the jobs you performed.
Did you spend years:
- Working around diesel locomotives?
- Working inside engine houses, shops, or other enclosed areas?
- Cleaning or repairing locomotives?
- Working around locomotive exhaust?
- Handling asbestos-containing materials?
- Working around asbestos insulation or brake components?
- Using solvents, degreasers, fuels, or other chemicals?
- Performing welding or cutting operations?
- Working around welding fumes?
- Working around silica-containing dust?
- Working in railroad yards or terminals with heavy diesel activity?
- Applying or working around herbicides or other chemicals?
- Working in areas with inadequate ventilation?
- Performing maintenance without adequate respiratory protection or other protective equipment?
You may remember these conditions simply as “the way the job was.”
But what seemed normal at the time may be important when investigating a potential occupational disease claim.
Your Railroad Job May Tell Part of the Story
Different railroad crafts can involve very different workplace exposures.
A machinist may have had a very different exposure history than a conductor.
A carman may have worked around different substances than a trackman.
A locomotive engineer may have spent years around diesel exhaust in circumstances very different from those experienced by someone working in a shop.
That’s why simply knowing that someone “worked for the railroad” isn’t enough.
An experienced FELA attorney should want to know what you actually did every day.
- Where did you work?
- What equipment did you work on?
- What substances were present?
- How often were you exposed?
- Who worked alongside you?
- What did the railroad tell you about those hazards?
- What protective equipment was provided?
- What did the railroad know about the risks at the time?
These details can become extremely important in investigating a cancer claim.
What If You Never Thought Your Railroad Work Was Dangerous?
Many railroad workers were simply doing their jobs.
You went to work, did what you were trained to do, and went home.
You may have worked around diesel fumes every day without giving them much thought. You may have handled chemicals because that was part of the job. You may have worked around dust, fumes, or other substances because everyone around you did.
Years later, after receiving a cancer diagnosis, you may start looking at those working conditions differently.
That doesn’t mean you should assume the railroad is responsible.
It means you should ask whether the circumstances of your employment deserve to be investigated.
What Does FELA Have to Do With Cancer?
The Federal Employers’ Liability Act is a federal law that provides railroad employees with a potential legal remedy when their railroad employer’s negligence contributes to an injury or occupational disease.
FELA is different from ordinary workers’ compensation systems.
In an occupational cancer case, the issue is not simply whether you became sick while employed by the railroad.
A potential FELA claim generally involves investigating whether the railroad’s negligence played a role in causing or contributing to your illness.
That can require evidence concerning your workplace, your exposures, the railroad’s knowledge of hazards, the safety measures that were—or were not—taken, and the medical connection between your work and your disease.
You don’t have to determine all of that yourself.
What Would an Attorney Investigate?
This is where an experienced railroad FELA attorney can make a significant difference.
At Doran & Murphy, we would want to understand the story of your railroad career—not just the name of your diagnosis.
That can include investigating:
Your Employment History
We may need to determine where you worked, when you worked there, what positions you held, and what your responsibilities were.
A worker’s exposure history can span decades and multiple railroad locations.
Your Actual Working Conditions
Job titles don’t always tell the whole story.
Two railroad workers with the same job title may have had very different daily exposure histories depending on their location, equipment, assignments, and working conditions.
Understanding what you actually did can be critical.
Potential Workplace Exposures
The investigation may involve determining whether you encountered substances such as diesel exhaust, asbestos, solvents, benzene-containing products, silica, welding fumes, herbicides, or other potentially hazardous materials.
The particular substances and conditions will depend on your individual work history.
The Railroad’s Knowledge
Another important question may be what the railroad knew—or should have known—about workplace hazards.
Were warnings provided?
- Were safer products or procedures available?
- Was ventilation adequate?
- Was appropriate protective equipment provided?
- Did the railroad have information about the risks associated with the exposures?
These questions can become important in determining whether negligence may have occurred.
Your Medical History
A cancer diagnosis is not enough by itself to establish that railroad exposure caused the disease.
Medical evidence can be an important part of evaluating whether there is a connection between your work and your cancer.
That may involve reviewing pathology, imaging, treatment records, prior medical history, and other information and, when appropriate, consulting qualified medical experts.
Your Potential Exposure to Other Causes
An honest investigation considers the entire picture.
Your medical history may include other potential risk factors. That doesn’t automatically eliminate the possibility of an occupational contribution.
The question is whether the evidence supports a connection between your railroad work, the railroad’s conduct, and your illness under the standards applicable to FELA.
What If You Smoked?
Some railroad workers hesitate to contact a lawyer because they smoked cigarettes during part of their lives.
They may think:
“The railroad will just say I smoked, so I don’t have a case.”
That is not something you should decide on your own.
A history of smoking does not automatically answer whether workplace exposures contributed to a cancer diagnosis. Some of the occupational exposures may even act synergistically with cigarette smoke to create a much larger risk – which wouldn’t be the case with cigarette smoking alone.
There may be multiple contributing factors, and determining the significance of those factors is a medical and legal question.
If you worked around diesel exhaust, asbestos, chemicals, or other potentially hazardous substances, your entire occupational and medical history should be considered.
What If You Retired Years Ago?
You may also think that because you retired from the railroad years ago, there is nothing you can do.
That isn’t necessarily true.
Some occupational diseases can take years or even decades to become apparent.
A cancer diagnosis after retirement does eliminate the possibility of a FELA claim, because the three year time limit (statute of limitations) runs from when the worker is diagnosed and knows or should know the cause, not their employment dates.
However, time can be extremely important in occupational disease cases.
The rules governing when a claim must be brought can be complicated, and the answer depends on the facts of the particular case.
For that reason, if you have been diagnosed with cancer and believe your railroad work may have contributed to your illness, it is important to speak with an attorney promptly.
Don’t Wait Until You Have Everything Figured Out
You may be thinking:
“I don’t have my old railroad records.”
Or:
“I don’t remember exactly what chemicals we used.”
Or:
“I don’t even know where to begin.”
That’s okay.
Start with what you remember.
Write down the railroads you worked for, the locations where you worked, your job titles, the equipment you worked around, and the substances or conditions you remember.
Think about co-workers who may have worked alongside you.
Gather the medical records you have.
Then talk with an attorney who handles FELA occupational disease cases.
An attorney can help determine what additional information and records should be investigated.
Why You Should Talk to a FELA Lawyer Before Talking to the Railroad
After a cancer diagnosis, you may have questions from your employer, the railroad, its representatives, or its attorneys.
You may also be asked about your medical history or your work history.
Before making important statements about the cause of your cancer or your potential claim, consider speaking with an experienced FELA attorney.
A lawyer can help you understand your rights and can investigate the circumstances of your illness before important evidence is lost and before memories become more difficult to reconstruct.
Your Cancer Diagnosis Deserves More Than an Assumption
If you spent decades working for the railroad and have now been diagnosed with cancer, you may never know with certainty what caused your disease.
But you shouldn’t have to guess whether your railroad career played a role.
You may have spent thousands of days working around conditions that were invisible to you as a hazard at the time.
You may have been exposed to substances that you were never warned about.
You may have been told that certain fumes, dust, or chemicals were simply part of the job.
And you may now be dealing with the consequences.
The question is not whether every railroad worker with cancer has an FELA claim. They don’t.
The question is whether your particular work history, exposures, medical condition, and the railroad’s conduct warrant an investigation.
That’s a question worth asking.
Talk to Doran & Murphy About Your Railroad Cancer Diagnosis
At Doran & Murphy, we represent railroad workers in FELA cases involving occupational diseases and workplace exposures.
We understand that when you call, you may not know what caused your cancer or whether you have a legal claim.
You don’t need to.
Tell us about your railroad career.
Tell us what jobs you performed.
Tell us where you worked and what you remember being exposed to.
We’ll help determine whether your situation deserves further investigation.
If you are a current or former railroad worker who has been diagnosed with cancer, contact Doran & Murphy for a free, confidential consultation.
You spent years working for the railroad. If you believe something you were exposed to on the job may have contributed to your cancer, don’t assume there is nothing you can do.
Call Doran & Murphy today.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every FELA case is different. Whether a particular cancer diagnosis gives rise to a FELA claim depends on the individual facts, available evidence, applicable law, and timing of the claim.
