Here’s what the court said:
In analyzing the facts of this case, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania had to determine whether the company was negligent and, if so, whether negligence caused Wyatt’s injury.
In addition, the court had to decide whether Wyatt knew before the accident that he was required to wear gloves while setting railroad spikes and whether the company’s actions or inactions, resulting in his lack of knowledge, were the approximate cause of his injuries. Both the independent contractor who trained Wyatt and the owner’s son (who worked with Wyatt) had testified that they sometimes did not wear gloves.
The court said that under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), every railroad company engaged in interstate commerce may be held liable for employees’ injuries if those injuries are the result of the company’s negligence or any defect or deficiency in its cars, tracks, roadbeds, or work areas.
Under the law, railroad companies are required to use reasonable care to provide employees with “a reasonably safe place to work, reasonably safe conditions to perform their duties, and reasonably safe tools and equipment to complete their jobs,” the court explained. “It is well settled in the 3rd Circuit that a railroad may be found negligent under FELA if it fails to prescribe, promulgate, and/or enforce adequate rules, procedures, and regulations for the safe operation of its equipment, tools, machinery, and appliances.”
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The district court denied the company’s request to dismiss the claims, saying a jury should decide the matter and that there was sufficient evidence from which a jury could reasonably conclude that SMS Rail Lines was negligent for failing to define and enforce its own safety rules and/or properly train its employees.
Freitick v. SMS Rail Lines, 748 F. Supp. 2d 431 (E.D. Pa. 2010)
In Brief
Make sure all employees are trained. In this case, the company introduced safety training videos for new hires, but Wyatt, an existing employee, did not receive the same training until after he was injured.
Provide PPE and instruction on how and when to use it. The company issued leather work gloves to all employees, but Wyatt maintained that he was never instructed that wearing of gloves was mandatory.
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