Many railroad workers are regularly exposed to dangerous carcinogens while on the job. Workers who have worked on a railroad and developed cancer may be able to gain compensation for physical, emotional, and financial injury through a railroad employee cancer lawsuit.

One known carcinogen causing harm and increasing the cancer risk for railway employees is benzene, a chemical which has been banned in consumer products for over 20 years in the United States. Despite the ban, railroad workers are often regularly exposed to this chemical because it is produced and released into the environment when diesel fuel is burned.

Benzene can impact a person’s body when it is breathed in or absorbed through the skin. Railroad workers are often regularly exposed to the chemical while performing their normal job functions. Though benzene was once thought to only cause lung cancer, recent research shows that exposure to the chemical is linked to the development of a range of cancers, including the following:

• Bladder cancer
• Colon cancer
• Esophageal cancer
• Hodgkin’s lymphoma
• Kidney cancer
• Lung cancer
• Mesothelioma
• Multiple myeloma
• Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
• Laryngeal cancer
• Rectal cancer
• Stomach cancer
• Throat cancer
• Leukemia
• Other cancer

Benzene is not the only toxic chemical possibly increasing the cancer risk for railway employees. Some common carcinogenic chemicals found on railroads, in rail yards and in locomotives include the following:

• asbestos
• silica dust
• diesel exhaust
• solvents
• creosote (often used to treat railroad ties)
• lead paint
• welding fumes
• herbicides

Railroad employees in a wide range of roles may be exposed to dangerous chemicals. An increased risk of cancer for railway employees may exist or workers employed as a conductor, brake worker, firefighter, pipe fitter, shop worker, yard master, track worker, sheet metal worker, or in a range of other roles. 

Cancer that develops after a career in any of these jobs may have been caused by on-the-job exposure to carcinogens.

Studies show that a person’s likelihood of developing cancer often depends on the “dose” or amount of a carcinogen to which they were exposed. So, cancer risk for railway employees is increased with the more of one or more cancer-causing chemicals a person is exposed to.

Another factor influencing a person’s likelihood of developing cancer is their length of exposure to a carcinogen. So, a railroad worker who had a long career or spent a lot of time around carcinogenic chemicals has a high risk of developing cancer.

Many railroad workers who develop cancer think that their cancer was the result of family history, predisposition, lifestyle or other factors. It may not occur to them that their disease may be linked to hazards in their work environment.

The Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA) requires railroad companies to provide a safe working environment for employees. So if you were exposed to cancer-causing chemicals as a result of your work, your company may have been in violation of FELA.  You may have a right to receive compensation for your illness.