By Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton, Injured Rail Workers’ Attorneys

A chemical fire sparked by a cutting torch being used by railroad employees to clear derailed rail cars just outside of West Point, Kentucky (KY), severely burned and hospitalized three men. According to LEX18.com “One was in very critical condition, another in critical condition and the third [was] in serious condition.”

The train was being run by the short line Paducah and Louisville Railway, which is owned in part by CSX. It is unclear what the chemical that caught fire was, but the flames and smoke prompted an evacuation of residents near the accident site.

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The Railroad Injury Lawyer’s Perspective 

Any employee using a welder or another device that makes a flame runs a risk for being burned. Companies have an obligation to minimize such risks, even when unusual circumstances like a train derailment occurs. While it is too early to know exactly why the fire that burned and hospitalized the PAL workers occurred, if the investigation into the incident shows that the company did not provide safe tools and do what it could to secure the environment, the men may have grounds for filing personal injury lawsuits.

Potentially Helpful Info

If you or a member of your family has suffered burns due to unsafe work conditions, you can begin to learn about your legal options for holding the responsible parties accountable for failing to prevent the injury by reading this free report written by North Carolina personal injury attorneys.

Check Out Our Firm’s FAQs

You can learn more about lawsuits concerning injuries at railroads by reading through our online library of lawyers’ answers to frequently asked questions.

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About the Editors: The Virginia- and Carolina-based attorneys at Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton have long histories of representing railroad workers in FELA and other railroad injury cases and of helping victims of rail crossing accidents. Lawyers at our firm have served as chairmen of the railroad section of the American Association for Justice, the largest national victim’s injury attorney organization, and one of our attorneys wrote a major legal encyclopedia section on railroad safety litigation. Check out our railroad injury case results to see for yourself. Be sure to get your free reports about railroad injury, disease and wrongful death FELA cases: The Do’s and Don’ts When Injured at a Railroad — Yours FELA Rights and What Railroad Claim Agents Won’t Tell You (But You Must Know). Also, our railroad injury lawyers proudly donate to the Fallen Brother Fund.