Scientists recognized benzene’s serious health hazards as early as the 1920s. By 1979, IARC concluded that sufficient evidence showed benzene was carcinogenic to humans.
What Do Railroad Machinists Do?
Railroad machinists were responsible for inspecting, repairing, rebuilding, and maintaining locomotives and rail equipment. Their daily work often included cleaning and degreasing engine components, repairing diesel engines and fuel systems, welding and grinding metal parts, servicing brakes, clutches, compressors, and generators, and working inside engine compartments, inspection pits, shops, and roundhouses.
These tasks placed machinists in direct and repeated contact with hazardous chemicals and airborne contaminants, often for entire shifts and over decades of railroad employment.
Toxic Substances Railroad Machinists Were Exposed To
Industrial Solvents and Degreasers
Cleaning and degreasing locomotive parts was a core part of a machinist’s job. Engine components coated in grease, oil, and carbon deposits had to be stripped clean before repair or reassembly. To do this, railroad shops stocked powerful chemical solvents designed to cut through heavy buildup quickly.
The most hazardous cleaning agents used by railroads generally fell into two categories: chlorinated solvents and petroleum-based solvents.
Chlorinated solvents such as trichloroethylene (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PERC), and trichloroethane (TCA) were widely used for decades. Machinists sprayed these chemicals directly onto parts, soaked components, and wiped down equipment. Because these chemicals evaporate quickly, they could create airborne fumes that lingered in work areas and caused high levels of exposure even from limited use.
Petroleum-based solvents and mineral spirits, including products such as Stoddard solvent and Safety-Kleen formulations, posed another serious risk because of benzene contamination. Benzene is a well-established human carcinogen associated with leukemia and other blood cancers, including myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). OSHA strictly regulates benzene exposure because of its toxicity.¹
How Railroad Machinists Were Exposed to Solvents
Railroad machinist toxic exposure often occurred during routine cleaning work. Machinists carried open buckets of solvent, applied chemicals by hand to tools and locomotive parts, and used pressurized sprayers to drench hot locomotives. In some situations, 55 to 110 gallons of solvent could be vaporized at a time.
The worst exposures often occurred in unventilated inspection pits, where fumes accumulated rapidly. Some workers also used solvents to clean their hands or clothing. Former machinists have described burning throats, headaches, dizziness, confusion, disorientation, and passing out from solvent fumes. When workers reported symptoms, the response was often to tell them to take an air break and return to work.
Health Consequences of Solvent Exposure
Two common components of railroad solvents, TCE and benzene, have been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as Group 1 carcinogens.² Long-term, repeated exposure placed machinists at serious risk for disease.
TCE exposure has been linked to kidney cancer, including renal cell carcinoma.³ Scientific research has also associated exposure to TCE, TCA, and methylene chloride (DCM) with an increased risk of multiple myeloma.⁴ Petroleum-based solvents and degreasers contaminated with benzene have been linked to leukemia, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and myelodysplastic syndrome.⁵
Chronic solvent exposure can also harm the central nervous system. Railroad machinists exposed over many years may develop toxic encephalopathy, Parkinson’s disease, memory loss, cognitive decline, mood changes, irritability, depression, and balance or coordination problems. These effects may worsen over time and may persist even after exposure ends.
Solvents such as TCE, PERC, and DCM are metabolized by the liver and kidneys, making those organs vulnerable to toxic injury. Long-term exposure has been associated with kidney disease, liver toxicity, liver cancer, and impaired organ function.
Diesel Exhaust
Diesel exhaust is created when engines burn diesel fuel. It is a complex mixture of gases and fine particulate matter, commonly referred to as soot or diesel particulate matter (DPM). Diesel exhaust contains more than 40 toxic chemicals, including benzene, arsenic, and formaldehyde, and has been classified by IARC as a Group 1 carcinogen.⁶
Railroad machinists were exposed to diesel exhaust when locomotives ran, idled, or cold-started inside shops; when engines operated in active work areas; during load testing inside locomotive car bodies with leaking exhaust; and while working in inspection pits beneath running locomotives. These exposures could occur repeatedly over decades.
Long-term diesel exhaust exposure has been linked to serious disease, with risk increasing as cumulative exposure rises. Health risks include:
Cancer Risks:
- Lung cancer
- Bladder cancer
- Leukemia
- Increased risks for laryngeal, throat, and kidney cancers.
Respiratory Disease:
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
- Chronic bronchitis
- Asthma
- Reduced lung function.
Cardiovascular Effects:
- Heart disease
- Increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
Other Effects:
- Headaches and dizziness
- Fatigue and cognitive impairment.
Welding Fumes
Welding fumes are created when metal is heated to high temperatures, producing a hazardous mixture of metal oxide, silicate, and fluoride particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs. These fumes commonly contain aluminum, arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, lead, manganese, nickel, and zinc.
IARC has classified welding fumes as a Group 1 carcinogen.⁷ Exposure to welding fumes can cause permanent damage to the lungs, organs, and nervous system.
Railroad machinists routinely welded, brazed, cut, ground, and sanded metal components. They often performed these tasks inside confined locomotive spaces with poor or nonexistent local exhaust ventilation and limited respiratory protection.
Health conditions associated with welding fume exposure include:
Cancer
Respiratory Disease
- COPD
- Occupational asthma
- Chronic bronchitis
- Pulmonary fibrosis
- Metal fume fever
Neurological Disease
- Manganism (Parkinson’s-like disorder)
Railroads Knew the Risks and Failed to Protect Workers
The railroad industry had access to extensive information about the toxic hazards machinists faced. Despite that knowledge, railroads often failed to implement adequate safeguards.
Scientists recognized benzene’s serious health hazards as early as the 1920s.⁸ By 1979, IARC concluded that sufficient evidence showed benzene was carcinogenic to humans. Despite this, railroads permitted the widespread use of benzene-contaminated products for decades.
The carcinogenicity of diesel exhaust was documented beginning in the 1950s.⁹ As early as 1955, the Association of American Railroads’ General Claims Division recognized that diesel exhaust contained “cancerogens.” Despite NIOSH recommendations in 1988 to minimize exposure, railroads continued allowing locomotives to idle in poorly ventilated shops.
Welding fume hazards were also extensively documented throughout the mid-20th century.¹⁰ The toxic effects of hexavalent chromium and manganese were well established, yet railroads often failed to provide effective local exhaust ventilation or adequate respiratory protection.
Chlorinated solvents, including TCE, were also linked to serious health risks.¹¹ Despite evidence connecting TCE, PERC, and other chlorinated solvents to kidney cancer, multiple myeloma, and organ damage, these chemicals remained standard cleaning agents through the 1980s and beyond.
Instead of investing in proven controls, railroads often downplayed the dangers, relied on inadequate ventilation, and allowed hazardous practices to continue. That history is central to many railroad worker toxic exposure lawsuit claims.
Your Legal Rights Under FELA
Railroad machinists who developed cancer, neurological disease, respiratory illness, liver disease, kidney disease, or other serious illnesses linked to toxic exposure may have legal options under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA).
FELA allows injured railroad workers to seek compensation when their employer’s negligence contributed to an injury or illness. In a railroad machinist toxic exposure case, negligence may include:
- Failure to provide adequate ventilation
- Allowing diesel locomotives to operate indoors
- Use of toxic solvents without proper protection
- Failure to control welding fumes
- Failure to provide adequate respiratory protection
- Failure to warn workers or monitor air quality
Under FELA, the railroad does not need to be the only cause of the illness. The worker must show that the railroad’s negligence contributed to the disease or harmful exposure.
Contact Hughes Law Offices
If you or a loved one worked as a railroad machinist and has been diagnosed with cancer, neurological disease, lung disease, liver disease, kidney disease, or another illness linked to toxic exposure, you may be entitled to compensation.
Hughes Law Offices has represented railroad workers in toxic exposure cases for years. Call 312-877-5588 for a free consultation with an attorney experienced in railroad toxic exposure cases.
References
- OSHA Benzene Standard
- IARC Monographs
- NIH Article on PERC and TCE
- NIH Article on Multiple Myeloma and Occupational Exposures to Solvents
- NIH Article on Benzene
- IARC Monographs
- IARC Monographs
- PMC Article on Benzene
- IARC Press Release on Diesel Exhaust
- OSHA Welding Fact Sheet
- Study on Solvents and Rail Workers’ Brains
