Mass Transit (Airline, Cruise Ship, Train, Bus) | InjuryBoard Virginia Beach

In late April 2008, an Ohio state court jury ordered Conrail to pay $2.6 million to its former locomotive engineer, for negligently causing his diesel exhaust asthma lung disease. Frank Battaglia, worked in the Detroit, Michigan rail yards for Conrail for 23 years as a railroad engineer, before he was eventually diagnosed with diesel exhaust fume asthma.

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Diesel exhaust fumes health and safety issues have been pushed to the forefront of health news by passage of new U.S. governmental regulations pertaining to railroad locomotive engines and other...

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The author has been exploring health and safety issues relating to diesel exhaust fume asthma and pollution and personal health and safety, especially in the railroad industry In reviewing several...

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By: Rick Shapiro, Attorney Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton Law Firm focus on Federal Regulations and Railroad. Historical Knowledge of Health Dangers. There is a growing body of evidence that long-term railroad worker exposure to diesel exhaust fumes can lead to a condition called diesel asthma; a form of COPD, and additional evidence shows an increased incidence of lung cancer rates among such workers.

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This article discusses railroad worker long term diesel exhaust fume lung disorders, as well as medical studies relating to diesel fume lung diseases and lung cancers, and another related article in this series covers new federal regulations that are clamping down on excessive railroad locomotive engine diesel fumes, as well as historical railroad knowledge of diesel exhaust lung disease legal cases.

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Also, when a railroad claims there is "no need" for an ergonomic assessment of a railroad worker job or task which has caused numerous injuries, showing the 1991 CSX ergonomic study of electricians totally refutes such nonsense.What does ergnonomics have to do with railroad worker injuries involving heavy lifting or even repetive stress injuries? Alot, and even the railroads held seminars in...

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According to published reports of the Washington Post, the chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission has been flying around the country to various events, all paid for by toy, appliance and children's furniture industries that they are supposed to be regulating! Many trips were covered by lobbying groups and lawyers representing these manufacturers.The trips were taken by Nancy Nord or...

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In the recent past, several insurance companies have issued controversial guides about what to do if you are in a car accident--the controversy arises from the not so subtle message NOT to retain an attorney. Actually, several lawsuits forced insurers to change or alter their materials. Now, Norfolk Southern, which is subject to claims falling under the Federal Employers' Liability Act...

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I ended my 2006 article predicting: "pretty soon, even conservative federal legislators will recognize that the railroad preemption card has eroded, not promoted, railroad safety and the pendulum will swing back." Little did I know that approximately one year later Congress would act, and President Bush would sign, the new legislation, 49 U.S. Code Sec 20106, which clarifies that the Federal...

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Our law firm, Hajek, Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis, and Appleton, has a special concentration in railroad injury matters, as well as all forms of personal injury. We have recently been retained on cases involving railroad workers who have developed cancer and other radiation related illness and disease as a result of exposure to radiation and radioactive substances while working for railroads that...

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A growing number of locomotive engineers have successfully pursued FELA claims against their employers based upon excessive vibrations found in locomotives. These claims are related to various long term maintenance issues (i.e. poorly maintained track, altered or poorly maintained locomotive seats, etc.). While transportation employees may be subject to locomotive cab vibration, they also face...

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We still have many nuclear power plants around the United States that are generating nuclear waste, nearly all in the form of spent nuclear fuel rods. Also, the United States has a continuing problem with where to store the low-level nuclear waste in the form of these spent fuel rods. The problem has been for decades that no state in our United States wants to accept the waste from the nuclear...

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An amazing story of a railroad's careless conduct and the intense and lifelong consequences of such carelessness arose out of a recent 37.5 Million Dollar settlement that Kansas City Southern Railway Company (KCS) paid in October, 2006. I personally spoke with Tom Jones, one of the several trial lawyers with Davis, Bethune and Jones, who represented the entire family that was tragically injured...

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There was a recent article in the local newspaper concerning Norfolk Southern Railway Company conducting a special train ride carrying one hundred people in two passenger cars behind a locomotive, to help these people understand rail safety and the dangers of railroad crossings. However, Norfolk Southern Railway Company and "Operation Lifesaver", a non-profit group, have been accused of trying...

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The Federal Rail Safety Act (FRSA) was enacted by Congress in the 1970's to improve nationwide railroad safety, and to make sure uniform laws applied to essential railroad safety for trains travelling through multiple states. The idea was that individual states could not enact a hodge podge of different safety rules on basic transport of freight or as to how the railroad track was to be...

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