Common injuries affecting signal and communications workers
The physical, electrical, and trackside demands of signal and communications work can lead to injuries such as:
- Electrical burns and shock injuries
- Back and neck injuries
- Shoulder and knee injuries
- Falls from ladders, poles, or structures
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Fractures
How these injuries can happen
For signal and communications workers, injuries often involve energized equipment, climbing, work near active tracks, tools, and field conditions.
Common scenarios may include:
- Contact with energized electrical equipment
- Arc flash or electrical faults
- Falls from ladders, poles, signal structures, or platforms
- Workers struck by trains or on-track equipment
- Defective tools or testing equipment
- Poorly maintained electrical systems
- Unsafe grounding or de-energizing procedures
- Slips and trips along the right-of-way
- Heavy lifting and material handling
- Repetitive climbing, bending, or reaching
- Roadside or hi-rail vehicle incidents
- Long-term exposure to noise and vibration
Safety bulletin
Injured while working in signal or communications? Do this now.
1
Get medical care
Seek appropriate medical attention and clearly explain how the injury occurred, including the equipment, electrical system, work location, or condition involved.
2
Document the equipment and location
Record the signal system, cabinet, pole, crossing equipment, communication equipment, vehicle, tool, or other equipment involved, along with the exact work location.
3
Preserve details about the condition
Write down whether the injury involved electrical power, a fall, defective equipment, train movement, inadequate protection, or another unsafe condition while the details are still fresh.
4
Identify witnesses
Record the names of coworkers, supervisors, dispatchers, roadway workers, or others who witnessed the incident or were aware of the condition involved.
5
Be accurate when reporting the injury
Describe the equipment, work process, and conditions that contributed to the injury. Avoid guessing about facts you do not know.
6
Talk to a FELA attorney before signing important documents
Statements, releases, authorizations, settlement documents, or other paperwork may affect your rights after a serious railroad injury.
Injuries that develop over time
Not every signal or communications injury results from a single incident.
Years of climbing, carrying tools, bending, kneeling, working in awkward positions, performing repetitive repairs, and traveling over uneven trackside terrain can contribute to chronic back, neck, shoulder, knee, hand, and other musculoskeletal conditions.
Long-term exposure to machinery noise, electrical environments, vibration, diesel exhaust, and other workplace conditions may also contribute to hearing loss or occupational illness.
When symptoms develop gradually, documenting your work history can be important. Record the duties you performed, the equipment and systems you worked on, the physical demands of the work, the years of exposure, and when symptoms first appeared.
How FELA may apply
The Federal Employers’ Liability Act, or FELA, allows covered railroad employees to recover damages when railroad negligence contributes, in whole or in part, to an injury.
For signal and communications workers, an investigation may examine issues such as:
- Electrical safety procedures
- Grounding and de-energizing practices
- Tools and testing equipment
- Fall protection
- Work near active tracks
- On-track protection
- Equipment inspection and maintenance
- Training and qualification
- Staffing
- Lighting and worksite access
- Vehicle and hi-rail operation
- Prior complaints or known hazards
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) regulates railroad signal systems and employee safety requirements that may become relevant depending on the work and circumstances involved.
What a signal or communications worker FELA case may be worth
There is no standard value for a signal or communications worker injury claim.
The value of a FELA case can depend on the severity of the injury, medical treatment, whether the worker can return to railroad service, lost earnings, future restrictions, long-term medical needs, and the evidence showing how railroad negligence contributed to the injury.
Evidence that may matter
Important evidence can include:
- Signal inspection and maintenance records: These may show prior defects, repair history, testing results, or recurring problems involving the equipment or system.
- Electrical and power records: These can help establish whether equipment was energized, de-energized, grounded, or otherwise handled safely.
- Training and qualification records: These may help show whether workers received appropriate instruction for electrical, signal, communications, or trackside work.
- Photos and video: Images can preserve equipment condition, worksite access, ladder or structure conditions, electrical components, and other hazards before they change.
- Work orders and defect reports: These may document prior complaints, requested repairs, recurring signal problems, or known unsafe conditions.
- Witness statements: Coworkers and other railroad employees may provide important information about equipment condition, work procedures, warnings, and events leading up to the injury.