Any rail employee who gets injured or made ill on the job should take the following steps
- Report the injury to your employer by completing an injury report.
- List all relevant details in the report, including any condition or other factor that could have contributed to the railroad injury. This is important because FELA, the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, unlike workers’ compensation, is fault-based and requires a finding that the rail company was negligent in some way. If you don’t include all contributing causes when you fill out the accident or injury report, it may later be used as evidence against you.
- Discuss your injury with co-workers and ask them if they would be willing to testify as witnesses for you at trial, if necessary. Also, ask them to record their observations as soon as possible after the railroad accident occurs.
- Visit a doctor. But remember, you are not required to see a company doctor. You can see your own doctor to get an independent and unbiased assessment of your railroad injuries.
- Keep accurate records of lost wages, expenses, travel costs, and other financial costs related to the railroad injury. Try to keep copies of all receipts.
- Keep logs of your discomfort and physical symptoms resulting from the injury and make sure to inform your doctor of these symptoms.
- Contact a Virginia railroad injury lawyer for a free, no-hassle consultation regarding your railroad injury claim.
Learn more: As Virginia and Carolina attorneys specializing in FELA and railroad injury law, we offer hundreds of pages of information to help you learn your rights and recover compensation if you’ve been hurt on the job, riding trains or crossing rail tracks. You may find our list “What Not to Do After a Railroad Accident” especially helpful.