After brakeman Chris Cole lost both his legs on the job, railroad officials removed evidence before state regulators could see it, omitted key facts in reports and suspended him from a job he could never return to.
Chris Cole lay on his back in the gravel beside the railroad tracks, staring up at the overcast sky above Godfrey, Illinois. He could not see below his waist — a co-worker had thrown himself over Cole’s body to spare him the sight, although the man couldn’t keep himself from repeating: “Oh my god, Chris. Oh my god.” So, instead of looking down where his legs and feet should have been, Cole looked up. What’s going to happen to my family? he remembered thinking.
Moments earlier, Cole — a 45-year-old brakeman, engineer and conductor with over two decades of experience working on the railroads — had attempted a maneuver he’d done many times: hoisting himself onto a locomotive as it moved past him. Although dangerous, Cole’s employer, Kansas City Southern Railway Company, did not prohibit workers from climbing on and off equipment that was moving at a “walking speed.” In fact, the company went from banning the practice in the mid-’90s to steadily increasing the permissible speed at which workers could attempt to climb onboard, a change other freight companies would also adopt in keeping with the spirit of a modern strategy to move cargo as quickly as possible.
As he pulled himself up onto the rolling train, Cole said he felt something strike his right shoulder — a rectangular metal sign close to the tracks that read “DERAIL.” He lost his balance and slipped beneath the wheels of a graffiti-covered boxcar. The train crushed and nearly severed his right foot and his left leg at the knee.
Never trust your employer. They will always look out for the business first, capitalism demands it.
Also, don’t do dangerous stuff just cause everyone else in the team/company/industry does it.
And advocate for your boys. Even classified environments can be ignored when lives are in danger. Don’t let security risk lives or health for an investigation. That’s their problem after everyone is safe.
And never forget. We didn’t get these right because we asked nicely. We killed and died to get them.
This is wild to me, not because the company acted like this, that was to be expected, but what they were arguing over: whether the guy who got his legs chopped off deserved workmans comp.
How is that even a question, even if he made some mistake or ignored some rule, the man got his legs chopped off on the job, he should get workmans comp regardless. Accidents happen no matter how safe you make an industrial environment, rules are often made to be impossible to fully follow, you shouldn’t have to prove the company was at fault to be made whole for getting injured on the job.
Dude, they’ll nickel and dime freakin toiletpaper.
I had an Uber driver recently who was a former miner. He was caught in a fucking mine fire that ruined his lungs and required physical therapy. He told me the story of all the different ways the company worked extra-hard not only to avoid responsibility, but to seemingly be an impediment to any actual help. I was pissed by the end of the ride and I’d just met the guy. These are the kinds of things, along with my own shitty experiences, that are really warming me up to organized labor in a way I never thought possible.
One of the newest episodes of Last Week Tonight gave a really damning look into just how sketchy and dangerous this industry is.
It’s shit like this why I am happy to be a euro-poor.
Yeah, Americans are richer, but they do it in a sleazy way.
This unsafe “efficiency gain” produces some extra profits for some rich dudes, but the working class doesn’t benefit and they pay the price in life and health
they just chucked his broken ass off the train, and left him laying beside the tracks
Any other The Boys fans confused by the title?
