Throughout the history of railroads, workers have needed lifting devices to help load railroad cars with freight, to repair tracks, to provide maintenance, to place derailed railway cars back on tracks and to assist in other railroad and railway yard work.
As a result, railroad cranes, railcar cranes and railroad yard cranes have been developed and then enhanced to handle such heavy lifting needs. But through errors in design, manufacture, installation or operation, such devices have led to railroad crane accidents causing injuries and deaths.
Kinds of Railroad Cranes
Among the kinds of railroad cranes, one vital crane for railroads is the breakdown crane. It is a huge heavy-duty crane that’s used when a railroad car or train car has overturned or come off the railroad tracks and must be lifted back onto the tracks.
The railroad engine is a particularly heavy element, so if it derails or overturns, more than one heavy-duty recovery crane or breakdown crane often is required to lift the train engine and restore it to its proper place on the tracks.
Other railroad cranes which often are used in track work are small rail-mounted cranes with a high-speed railway chassis and telescopic booms to allow suspended loads to travel in a level manner down the rails.
Railroad Crane Accidents Can Happen
But as with many other types of lifting cranes, accidents can happen with railway cranes and railroad yard cranes. Numerous such railroad crane accidents occur when objects are lifted and then fall unexpectedly, or when a railroad crane tips or falls over.
When railroad workers are injured or killed in such railroad crane accidents, their injuries or deaths are covered under the Federal Employer’s Liability Act (FELA). Also, in some cases a product liability claim or a personal injury lawsuit can be filed against the crane manufacturer or designer when design or manufacturing defects led to a crane accident.
If a member of your family suffered an injury or death due to a railroad crane accident, rest assured that you have a legal right to seek compensation for your economic losses, including medical expenses, lost salary and pain and suffering.
Get a Free Case Review
To launch this process, contact us today at The Willis Law Firm for a free, confidential, and no-obligation case review and legal consultation for your railroad crane injury accident case.
Yes, simply call us to speak with a Board-Certified Personal Injury Trial Lawyer. And then, if you choose our law firm, please know that we accept cases on a contingency fee basis, which means there are no up-front legal costs to you and we are only paid if we win your case for you.
Contact us today, and let’s get started seeking the payments — and the justice — to which your family is entitled after a railroad crane accident injures or kills a loved one.
Talk to a Railroad Crane Accident Lawyer – Call 1-800-883-9858 or online form