How electrical hazards show up in railroad work

Electricity on and around the railroad takes many forms. We regularly see injuries involving:

• Overhead catenary systems and third rail – Contact with energized catenary wires, support hardware, or third rail during inspection, maintenance, or construction; arcing to cranes, aerial lifts, hi-rail equipment, or tools that get too close to energized systems.
• Signal, communications, and crossing power – Shock and burns while working in signal bungalows, junction boxes, relay houses, or crossing cabinets; unexpected energization during troubleshooting or when circuits are mis-labeled or mis-isolated.
• Substations and feeder lines – Incidents during switching, racking breakers in and out, or working inside substations and feeder stations where high-voltage equipment should have been de-energized, grounded, and locked out.
• Buried or overhead utility conflicts – Contact with unmarked or mis-marked utilities while digging, driving piles, or excavating; crane or equipment booms contacting overhead lines in or near railroad right-of-way.
• Welding, cutting, and shop power – Electric shock, arc flash, and fire during welding, thermite work, grinding, or cutting when equipment is defective, PPE is inadequate, or workspaces are not made electrically safe.
• Water, weather, and step-potential hazards – Electrocution when energized equipment comes into contact with standing water, soaked ballast, or conductive structures, turning the surrounding area into a live hazard.

Who may be responsible for a high-voltage incident

Electrical injuries often involve multiple companies and decision-makers. Depending on the facts, liability may fall on:

• The railroad employer – For failing to provide a reasonably safe place to work; not enforcing lockout/tagout; inadequate job briefings; unsafe clearances; lack of training; and using defective or inadequate PPE and tools all potential negligence under FELA.
• Signal, power, and utility contractors – Third-party companies responsible for designing, installing, or maintaining electrical systems; performing switching and grounding; or marking utility locations.
• Equipment and PPE manufacturers – Makers of insulated tools, gloves, lifts, cranes, and electrical components that fail under normal, expected use.
• Property and industrial facility owners – Facilities with their own power systems, overhead lines, or buried utilities that create hidden or unmarked electrical hazards for railroad or construction crews.
• Engineering and design professionals – Entities that design projects with insufficient clearance, flawed protection schemes, or unsafe utility layouts.

Our approach is to identify every entity that contributed to the conditions and decisions that made the electrical contact possible.der state negligence and wrongful death laws, with unique notice requirements and damage rules depending on the entity involved.

How McEldrew Purtell builds electrocution & high-voltage contact cases

Electrical cases are technical and evidence-intensive. When we take on one of these matters, we:

• Act fast to preserve critical evidence – Including switching and grounding logs, lockout/tagout documentation, job briefings, drawings and one-line diagrams, signal and power records, maintenance logs, training materials, and incident reports.
• Analyze who controlled the system and the work – We untangle the roles of the railroad, utilities, contractors, and engineers to understand who had authority over de-energizing, grounding, clearances, and work methods.
• Work with electrical and safety experts – To reconstruct how the current path occurred, whether proper de-energization and verification steps were taken, and how industry standards and internal rules were violated.
• Document the full impact of the injury – Coordinating with burn specialists, neurologists, rehabilitation experts, and life-care planners to understand future medical needs, limitations, and the effect on your ability to work and live independently.
• Pursue every available claim and source of recovery – Including FELA claims against the railroad and additional negligence and product-liability claims against utilities, contractors, and manufacturers where appropriate.

Our goal is to secure compensation that reflects not only immediate medical bills and lost wages, but also surgeries and care you will need years from now, modifications to your home and vehicle, lost earning capacity, pain and suffering, and, in fatal cases, your family’s long-term financial and emotional loss.ery entity that contributed to the conditions and decisions that made the electrical contact possible.der state negligence and wrongful death laws, with unique notice requirements and damage rules depending on the entity involved.