Railroad Cancer Exposure (Ep. 7)

[MUSIC] >> Welcome to Stantrach podcast with Pulse and Oat Laugh firm, Danny Pulsein. Along with my amazing co-host, Karissa Odin, our vision is to help 500 plus families battling injuries by year 2028. >> Our motto is that we help people who are hurt. Our goal is to earn each client's trust by showing up for them every day. When we say PO in our office, we think protecting others. We started this podcast to share knowledge, experience and insights free of charge to better spread our vision and serve our communities near and far. >> Today we are airing episode seven of Stantrach podcast with Pulse and Oat Laugh firm. And we're talking about railroad cancer exposure today, which we've talked about cancer in a few of our episodes partner. And it's a more serious topic that's affected, if not all of our viewers probably many of our viewers in some way form a fashion. >> Yeah, unfortunately I think everybody has dealt with it in some kind of way in their life or a loved one. >> For sure. And as of recent partner, you've seen some things which kind of put this episode sort up to the top of the list to address with railroad cancer and railroaders who may be diagnosed with cancer or have some sort of malignancy and not quite understand that it's possibly related to their time working on the railroad, right? >> Right, I think that we've found a lot of these lunch and learns that we're doing or union meetings that many of the reporters, they don't know that that could be a claim that they could have in the future or they're retired and they're dealing with these health issues and not realizing that even though it's been years since they've worked that this is something that could be caused by the work that they did at the railroad or their loved ones too, like they're bringing home certain things. Their loved ones may be dealing with cancer illnesses and they have no idea it could be related to their work at the railroad. >> Yeah, so we wanted to get this episode out and it's a little chunky, I guess, with the elements and the carcinogens and the chemicals would not. So a lot of this information that we're going to be talking about today, you can find on our website, Pulsanodin.com, but we're going to go through some of these specifics as far as talking with your doctor and certain chemicals and carcinogens and things like that and derailments and whatnot. So if there's anything that we're not addressing today on this episode, there's a ton of information on our website that goes through that in detail as well. >> Exactly, yep. >> All right. So far, railroders out there, you're exposed to many dangerous chemicals and products that can actually cause cancer. And most railroders, we help do not realize, as Chris has said, the level of danger working around chemicals and products regularly. And some of the most common hazardous chemicals and products include diesel exposure and exhaust fumes, asbestos, silica, caresoat and railroad ties, benzene, and roundup. It is important to understand your exposure and if it is related to your work at the railroad, your realization that your railroad work may have contributed or caused your illness or cancer, will actually start the time and the clock to follow claim to protect your rights. And I think that's one of the most important things we want railroders listening to data to understand, right? That the law that protects you when you have an injury, including any exposure to chemicals, it's under a lock on the federal employer's liability actor, Phila, many of you probably heard that word before. But under Phila, you have three years to bring a claim from the date that you knew, you should have known that your cancer exposure illness was caused by your work. I think that's really important to understand that it's when you knew or you should have known. So that could happen many years past a diagnosis of cancer if that's something that you've never connected the dots to. But once that starts, your time starts to move and tick. So what that means, what's important for you to know is to call and speak with us here at Pulse and Odin law firm. As soon as you suspect that you or your loved one were exposed to chemicals or products at the railroad that were caused of your loved ones cancer illness, it's important to talk to us so that we can figure out that time for you to bring a claim. And if you have a claim that's still able to be brought under the law. Part of let me ask this question for someone who is for someone who has not been diagnosed with cancer yet. No doctor has said you have cancer yet. Obviously the clock that three year period would not begin running until the date of diagnosis of cancer. Right. That's what yes, we argue that when you wouldn't know about cancer until you're diagnosed with cancer, right? So once you have that diagnosis, if your doctor discusses with you and sometimes they don't, right, that might not be something that comes up. But if they do discuss with your exposures to different chemicals or products and you talk about your work, then that knowledge under the laws when the law says, okay, well, you know, right? You need to do something about this within three years if you're going to bring a claim. So the first so the first date of diagnosis and I think when you say the time period and we want to make sure we're clear on that for the folks who don't know that to me is kind of one of the the triggers as I think, okay, what if I actually have cancer right now, what how far back if I knew if I didn't know at a minimum, we want to know the data diagnosis and if you get diagnosed, God, God forbid, you don't. But if you do at a minimum from that date, you need to be proactive about what may have caused the cancer because then the railroad is actually going to argue that three year period has lapsed and the claim goes away forever and you can't revive it. Exactly. They're going to be looking through and see when your first bit of knowledge is and for cancer, you know, that diagnosis for an illness that may be a little bit more complicated, right? If it's not cancer and you have some kind of pulmonary illness, COPD, maybe you've been in with shortness of breath and you've talked to your doctor about it being related to work and he's given you diagnosis and you continue to have that treatment, right? The railroad is going to comb through that and go, okay, well, you were short of breath here. We want the claim to be calling, right? So it's important that if you have some knowledge, a lot of the routers at the union meetings to the union brings to their attention certain things that could be connected to their exposures at work, when you have that knowledge, it's important for you to call and talk to us about what you're going through so that we can protect your rights, right? That's protecting others. That's what we're trying to do. We want to protect that right that you may have to bring that claim. That's such a great point and I think what we're talking about two things. One is you actually, as someone who has worked for the railroad, for the carrier and has been diagnosed with cancer, you actually have rights, you may not know about. And the railroad actually is very sophisticated, knows about those rights, hopes you sit on it for that three year period. And that time period could be running and you don't even know it and the railroad is going to say you knew the time period is running and then your rights go away. So one, you have rights you may not know about and two, the rights you didn't know about, actually the railroad is going to argue are gone after the three year period. Exactly. They definitely keep track of that if they have your medical records or you know, they're going to make sure that they're like hoping and praying. They get to that three years and don't have anything filed. That's the first thing they're going to argue that it's gone. Right. Okay. So partner, going to the chemicals and products starting with diesel exhaust. What is what is diesel exhaust and how is that hazardous to railroads? That's a great question and one that we get a lot from railroads. That's diesel exhaust and asbestos are two of the main hazards that railroads are exposed to in their work. So virtually all railroad crafts and their chronic exposure to diesel exhaust. So in any craft that you're working anything when we talk to railroads, they'll test to this. They are constantly, you know, breathing in diesel exhaust, diesel fumes, they're working, fueling trains. I mean, it's just it's a big part of what they do every day. So and diesel exhaust is known to cause lung cancer and can have can cause a variety of respiratory conditions such as asthma and COPD. It's been associated with bladder cancer, kidney cancer, colon cancer, throat cancer and stomach cancer. And this is one that has been labeled as a carcinogen, right. There's no doubt that diesel exhaust causes cancer. And I think it's important again, no matter what your craft, all railroad employees have been exposed to diesel exhaust. At least since 1955 and documents that we've gathered and cases that we've worked for cancer victims, railroads were aware that diesel exhaust was dangerous to their employees. And even with this knowledge, the carriers didn't take any action to protect any employees or warn them for decades, which is crazy. I think to me, I mean, that they've known for an extensive amount of time that this is a problem and they didn't do anything to help protect. employees. When I started working on these types of cases in the maritime industry with asbestos being used as Viscosifiers and uncovering these documents that these companies knew about the illnesses that could come from the exposure to these products and they continued to manufacture the products based on a financial planning setup to make money. It really still as I talk about it right now, it sends shivers down my spine because it's something that you think you only see on TV or it's only a conspiracy theorist talking about it and the reality is we've seen in the railroad industry and in the maritime industry that these companies know what their manufacturing is bad for you and your family and they sold it anyway. Right and when you say shivers, yeah it's the fact that they put this in writing right like we have the documents where they've discussed this at large meetings and they're weighing whether you're going to know right so no specific the railroad there's they had their doctors come in they're talking about you know they've seen a connection here but they're weighing whether it's better for them to do anything about it now which they decided you know they weren't going to do anything and then hopefully you don't know down the road and you know it may just those claims just go away like let's just keep it to ourselves and you may never know and we're making a business decision here. Yeah it's it's it's eerie when you think about the value of life and how precious it is and then for executives and decision makers to put the value of business and money and profits over people it's it's it's I'm at a loss for words to think about it and again that's why we wanted to put this episode together and get it out there as soon as possible because it's sometimes I don't know if this is the right way to say a partner but the companies or the carriers want the rail rotors and the workers and the general public to be ignorant to what they know to be true and not know about the for the rail rotors their rights and their protections because it actually benefits the carrier and the in the in the railroads. Yeah no that's excellent one's absolutely true and that's you know I think that's part of what we want to do today on the podcast like you know then talking about this fastest letting rail rotors know like how how our rail rotors exposed to express asbestos you know we just talked about the diesel so you they have a good idea like okay I did work in the shops right did do that with engines okay that exposure it's even more you know giving that knowledge you're not ignorant to the things that you're exposed to and what problems those cause because the railroad for years was not required even put placards or anything to say this is hazardous right and then even after they were required they still don't do it as you know as recent as 2015 several other carriers were cited because they didn't have things that said diesel exhaust is a carcinogen right they just they're not giving that knowledge so that's kind of what we're here today to do. No for sure for sure so asbestos is also a main concern for rail rotors partner. Yes it is and so let's talk a little bit about how the the rail rotors were exposed to asbestos. Yes so unfortunately for rail rotors the carriers have been relying on products manufactured with asbestos for years and the railroad is known since 1958 that asbestos causes cancer and again helpful to know what asbestos is we have a ton of information on our website but a little bit about asbestos to get a little technical here it's a heat resistant fiber silicon mineral that has been used in many products and materials such as sheetrock bricks break linings break pumps and concrete it's asbestos has been used historically in insulation roof shingles and siding asbestos was also found in break pads and drilling mud and when I talked earlier about this as a viscosephile it was used because of its heat we mentioned that it's heat resistant and the way that it the way that it affects the body essentially and we're not doctors or scientists but what we understand to be true is the way that the body the body doesn't absorb it it's unabsorbable the body can't process it and we have a we have a visual on our on our website with a penny and the penny the side the size of a penny and then it's got five or six hairs fiber hairs and it shows how little and it's got two to three grains of rice and then 80 bitty bitty it's much smaller three grains of rice it's 20,000 asbestos fibers it's crazy how small right exactly so so small and so in the railroad industry there are several ways that rail rotors are exposed to asbestos asbestos containing brake shoes asbestos containing gaskets seals and rope asbestos containing locomotive rail and car parts asbestos lined pipes and the heating systems of the locomotives and asbestos in the buildings and locomotive shops where rail rotors worked and so knowing that it's a known carcinogen the only safe level to asbestos is zero because even small doses of exposure can result in cancer and mesothelioma and so with all the asbestos used by the railroad in these products partner wood or additional potential risks to the health of workers and rail rotors exposed to asbestos I think you mentioned one just a moment ago so asbestos is known to cause mesothelioma and lung cancer it's also associated with cancer such as throat cancer kidney cancer and other pulmonary conditions such as esbestosis so on our website we have a large section about what mesothelioma is I think a lot of people have heard that word right you see some of those commercials on TV about talking about it but it's essentially a tissue tumor of the lungs stomach heart or other organs and it's the most common form of cancer that affects the lungs this exposure and inhalation of asbestos visors can cause mesothelioma so and treatment for that you know surgery chemotherapy radiation I mean it's it's um if you're diagnosed with mesothelioma right like that's it's a serious serious condition and I know that you know again we part of why we're here talking about this on the podcast so that you you know that you know you have an advocate with us at a resource right like if that's something that you're dealing with we want to be here for you and help you go through that because I mean I'm about you partner but I've had you know had clients with this condition and it's just you know it's it's a lot to to deal with for for sure and and I've got a note here that asbestos also causes cancer of the larynx and ovaries and and I know you know for me we've we've we've talked about my dad and my dad being a you know working you know in in the oil field and and being exposed to things and and he passed away from bladder cancer and and our family talks about that often what the cause of that was and when he passed I didn't have the knowledge then being in law school that I have now with the experience helping helping people who have who have been unfortunately diagnosed with cancer and so you know for for you know for us it's very important to understand the why and know why this has happened and sometimes it's hereditary right it can't or can be hereditary the same breath though to know that there's exposure out there to bad things for us it's a why and it's one of those things that we take very personally and very seriously because we've we've had to deal with that in our own personal life so it's it's just understanding the why and making sure that let's go let's go get better but while we're getting better let's make sure if somebody knew that this was going to cause you harm we protect you and not just you we protect your families losing a father three younger sisters of a mom who's a widow when you see that it changes you right it does it when you go through trauma it changes you and for us when we talk about legacy you know this is something that's really on my heart is that you're leaving behind your spouse you're leaving behind your kid you're leaving behind your grandchildren this is something that you know we've had a lot of clients share that with us that they go look I may not be able to even finish this fight but I want this for my family and all my family to be protected so it's just one of those things that's near and dear to our heart because we we've been there we've seen it and we've dealt with it and so it's almost you know not knowing all the things my dad was exposed to it's kind of like you know right or wrong kind of feel you know I feel like it's it's part of my calling it's part of part of what we do here to to figure it out the why and then protect protect those those workers that provide for the families and then protect those workers families yeah I think that yeah I mean the way you set up part I think is as exactly right I mean then when we talk about the loved ones too I think what's important to know especially with asbestos and you you can talk to this the families themselves like the workers unknowingly are bringing home things right so maybe you know talking about that a little bit like they you may be dealing with pulmonary issues or like I know it goes shortness of breath, tightness in your chest. A bunch of different illnesses and not even realize that maybe unknowingly your spouse or your brother, whoever working in the home with you was bringing that to you. - Yeah, and what's scary about when we start talking about this, you know where my head goes with products is making money and capitalism, right? And the reality is that these companies are built to make money and asbestos is essentially microscopic. And when you see it, it's a white material. And so you may not even see it on your clothes, in your jeans, on your dicks, you don't see it. And so if you go home, especially for these maritime workers, I know they would go home covered in this white powder and their spouse would wash the clothes. There's asbestos now floating all inside of that house. And if they have central air and heat, there's asbestos floating around in that HVAC system. And we've seen spouses with a diagnosis that's attributable to asbestos going, how is this even possible? It's from the second hand exposure from washing clothes that have the asbestos fibers on them for money. - For money, right? - Right. - It just, and again, I certainly don't want to go down a dire tribe robe of ranting and raving. But it just, I have a visceral response to that because it's the balance of profits over people basically. And I don't mean to oversimplify it like that, but that's unfortunately with the work we've done and the things we've seen, there's no other conclusion you can arrive at other than profits over people. And we tell the jury's that. - No, I mean, I think it's a really good point. That second hand exposure is a real thing. Even for the rail ridders, you know, even when the airlines got away with smoking on planes, right? Amtrak decided to like cater to that and they continued to allow second hand smoke, or continue a lot of people smoke on the trains. All of those workers have to work in that environment. There's claims for them because of that. And that, they, Amtrak just recently did away with that. So yeah, that is a real thing. The second hand smoke, the second hand exposure to this fastest thing you're absolutely right. We're here to make sure that as a rail ridder, maritime worker, like you know, you know, what you've been exposed to, but also what potentially your family has been exposed to, right? And we're here to protect both, but you have to have that knowledge. - For sure, no, that's a, no partner. That's a really, really good point. And when we're talking about being exposed to chemicals and products, we mentioned that at the beginning of the podcast. Let's talk to our listeners about what hazardous chemicals are transported by rail. - And I think that, you know, even if you're not a railroad worker, there's railroads that go through the communities, right? So it's good to know, you know, what potentially are in those, those cars, railroads transport chemicals in the form of fertilizers, to farmers, plastic resins, to auto-part producers, caustic soda, to pulp, and paper manufacturers, and countless other chemical products throughout the US. Freight railroads move 2.3 million carloads of plastics, fertilizers, and other chemicals in 2022. So it gives you a good idea of they are the main source of moving these type of products all over the country. - That's a lot of, that's a lot of carloads, two-way through main carloads. Why are chemicals transported by rail? - Well, the Federal Railroad Administration, who is the body that looks at the safety of what the railroads are doing, right? They're the ones that kind of police that. They recognize it, but this in air quotes is the safest land-based method to moving large quantities of chemicals over long distances. I put that, you know, we put that kind of in air quotes because the carriers continue to increase the lengths of the trains and continue to try to cut the crews, right? So the safety of transporting is compromised because of this, right? So it may be, or could have been, right? The safest way to transport these chemicals when the train lengths weren't miles and miles long, and they've got one person trying to maneuver those trains through our communities, right? We've seen this with recent derailments, I think most of our listeners have probably heard about the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment, and there's been several others in recent years that have jeopardized community safety when a variety of all these hazardous chemicals were spilled, right there in separate cars for a reason, probably not supposed to be mixed together. I mean, they're hazardous by themselves, and then, you know, they can be flammable. I mean, there's a lot of people that we're dealing with having to evacuate their homes, you know, and then the rail rotors themselves exposed and the risk of the whole train exploding, right? Because we've got all these chemicals moving through communities and the rail rotors decided that it's, you know, better for them to have one person handling these trains. There's no regulations on the length right now. No, the FRI is working on that, but yeah, it's very, very kind of scary to think about what's going, you know, sometimes past our schools, I think, you and your kids, where they play, right, the playground that they go to a lot for their sports, there's trains that go right next to them, right? - And our rail rotors out there, UP, BNSF, y'all are pulling that in a hole while we're practicing at Pond and playground, and we're looking at you. And I got my hand fist pumping, giving you a shout out for sure, I appreciate y'all, but that's exactly what I wanted to touch on is the train length. Then we crossings and this and the other, and my point of that is train lengths have become to, for folks who don't know, train lengths have gotten longer, which means they're heavier, which means there's more risk involved with slack action and things like that, but they're still carrying the same products, and that creates a larger risk for derailments, which endangers the community, and the carriers are trying to decrease the workforce to essentially a one person crew to manage a train that could be miles long and tons heavy down our streets across our communities near and far. And is that the PSR, the precision schedule that they're running that they're trying to roll out? And when you think about that, all while carrying hazardous materials, yeah, did I say that right? Yeah, no, you said all that perfect. And the railroads themselves, and recently there was a win for them with the FRA because they mandated for freight that they have two crew, but I'll tell you when first started doing this partner, like the crews were six people, right? And that was that time. I don't mean in a row, Chris, but that was a long time. A long time. Chris, was that a long time? When you started helping rowroads a long time ago. So that long ago, but-- A long time, no, I'm sorry. Go ahead, I'm sorry. I had to look on me. I'm needling a little bit, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Even then, you know, rowers talked about, you know, needing more crew, right? So to think that it's a win for two it is, but because it's not one, right? But it's still, it's a lot to put on their shoulders. And especially without, you talked about the regulation on the length, you know, the more cars, the more product, the rowroads moving to more customers, and they can do it, you know, which is one train, right? That all, all profit, all production. And the safety is in a priority. And we've seen that, you know, I mean, it's come to fruition. There's a great documentary on HBO. I can't remember the name of it right now, but it talks about this whole idea of the train links and going through neighborhoods and essentially transporting bombs, right? Like they are transporting chemicals that could be made into bombs if they do rail, if they mix, right? It's scary, it's scary for the workers, it's scary for the communities. Scary stuff. Yeah. We were talking about the chemicals being transported by rail partner. And so after a railroader in hails chemicals, how long does it take to recover? We get this question a lot. It's a really good question. And it depends on the type of chemical and the duration of the exposure. For example, one of the most common ways workers are exposed to chemicals is through pesticide use. Railroads use those chemicals to control vegetation, growing on mainline tracks, in the rail yards or at railroad, crossings, using pesticides instead of other pest and weed control is actually cheaper for the railroads. These pesticides are inhaled by rail rotors and long-term exposure leads to railroaders developing potential fatal illnesses. And also on our website, we have an explanation of benzene, which is another chemical known to be present in the railroad environment. Part of you want to tell us a little bit about what benzene is. and teach us a little bit about that. - Sure, I think a lot of rare rotors, they're familiar with diesel exhaust, diesel fumes. I think they've probably heard benzene, but it's a colorless and it's like a light yellow liquid chemical that's highly flammable and evaporates really quickly. So it's formed from natural processes, such as volcanoes and forest fires, but exposure to benzene results from human activity. So it's one of the most widely used chemicals in the US. It's primarily used as a starting material in other chemicals, including plastics, lubricants, rubbers, dyes, detergent, drugs, and pesticides. So like diesel exhaust, it is a known carcinogen, meaning it is a chemical that's known by the railroad for causing cancer. And part of me, we talk a little bit about how are rail routers primarily exposed to benzene in the workplace? - The primary way people are exposed to benzene is by breathing air containing benzene. Benzene is also a natural part of crude oil, gasoline and therefore motor vehicle exhaust and cigarette smoke. It can manifest as exhaust from vehicles, industrially missions or vapors from different paints. Benzene is known to affect railroad workers because of its close proximity to the trains diesel fumes. Chemical is also known to cause cancer and other illnesses such as diminished immune system, anemia, and cancer such as leukemia. Benzene is also known to be harmful to reproductive organs. Benzene can also be absorbed through the skin during contact with a sore, such as gasoline, but because liquid benzene evaporates quickly, this is less common. Benzene in any quantity is dangerous, but railroad workers can be exposed to exceptionally high levels. And with all that, benzene is bad. - Yes. - Yeah. - Yep. So if I'm a railroader, it's been years since my exposure or my loved one's exposure partner, how do you prove exposure to these hazardous chemicals in products? - I think that's a really good question one that we get calls about because I think some railroaders are their loved ones, they go, oh man, why haven't worked at the railroad? Yeah, I've been retired for 10 years. Like, I don't have a claim anymore, right? That's all gone. And so I think it, most importantly, call us, right? Let's talk to us about that, but it's important that you know what chemicals and products you're exposed to. And you may say, well, Chris, I mean, I worked there. I changed out break shoes. I did this work. I worked with the locomotives. Great, like, call us and talk just about your work history, right? Because that pulls known, we've gathered a bunch of documents and materials that show that the railroad, again, we talked about this a little bit earlier, they've known about the hazards caused by these chemical and products for years, right? These are complicated cases because we've got to put together what you were doing at the railroad, what you were exposed to, and we specialize in those cases, right? We are your designated lawyers for proving your railroad cancer case. So it's important to call us, let us walk through your work history, right? What you did so that we can connect those dots. - Partner, when you're talking about these cases being complicated and having designated lawyers, I think it's important to note, and this is for the viewers, it's kind of me bragging on Chris a little bit, you know, with Chris's appointment as designated leoconsum for smart, but our firm being designated by TCUIM and then, you know, our, Chris is also on the board of Arla, the Academy Railway Returnies, which I think is really cool, 'cause it takes a lot of effort, but we're pushing the protection of the FLA and FRSA and make sure you're right through there. I think the point of all that is that when you're out there looking for a lawyer to handle your case and back you up, you wanna make sure that that lawyer's qualified and in this instance, I would say designated because you wanna know that they've got the experience handling those types of cases, they're familiar with those sorts of things, 'cause there's, it's like anything else, there's a lot of lawyers out there, not to be disparaging of other lawyers, but this is its own specialty and a jack of all trades is a master of none, if you don't have a designated attorney, and not just our firm, right? It's any when you hire, I'm not suggesting you hire us, I'm suggesting you hire somebody who's competent and qualified and designated to handle your situation because it is specialized. - Yeah, exactly, and it's important that you have someone, those time frames, knows what dots need to be conducted, has those documents, I mean, I can't imagine someone that has not worked in these kind of cases, the lawyer was very good about hiding things, right? They're gonna say they have no documents, how many times have we asked for things in cases where we know that it exists? We know because we've gathered over the years, and they still say they don't have those things, right? Yeah, we want to have someone that can really dive in and they know what they're looking for to go get those pieces of the railroad that's gonna, they've been keeping 'em, right? - No, for sure, and the other thing, and again, it's on my heart, and I'm very passionate about this, is we pride ourselves on providing exceptional service in legal industry, and I think even if you have a competent lawyer, you need to have a lawyer that's resilient and relentless and tenacious to pursue this because these carriers are billion dollar companies, and you've gotta have attorneys who are ready to work, and like Chris said, dig into what's going on to get you the best result, and make sure that attorneys leave in no stone unturned. - Exactly, if the railroad has, and they have very sophisticated legal departments, I mean, they have a whole separate group that's just working on making sure that you don't get any money and that the law is favorable to them, right? So they work, it's like a dual track for them. So you need someone that understands that and knows that that first answer of, we don't have it or we can't find it, or we don't know where it is, is BS, right? And that the only way we're gonna get the pieces by continuing to push and use hopefully the court system to help with that at times, right? - For sure, and that spreads across all industries. I mean, we've seen there's best practices in insurance company claims in railroad from decision-making, from maritime companies, from decision makers that are literally looking at the best way to avoid taking responsibility for decisions they made previously. I mean, it's scary, and so you wanna make sure you've got a competent attorney who's also is courageous and will hustle to figure it out to get you the result. 'Cause unfortunately, in our practice, we see that sometimes it may be, well. - Yeah, I mean, I mean, I think that's the part of like you said at the beginning, when we think of PO at the office, we think of protecting others, right? Like we've made it our business to serve all individuals that are being hurt by these type of business practices, right? Railroaders, maritime workers, those of you that are dealing with insurance issues with your property. Anyone that has been injured, right, that's our mission is to help families battling injuries. So that's what we're here to do. - So partner, talking about regulated chemical. What are employers responsible to do if you work with regulated chemicals? - Well, specifically for the railroad, the law says that they're required to provide railroaders with a safe place to work, right? They can't get rid of that responsibility. So when railroaders are working with hazardous chemicals and products, the federal law requires that the railroad provides a safe working environment. So again, here at Pulsano, we specialize in railroad cases and helping railroaders who are victims of exposures at the railroad build your case, right, against the railroad who had a duty to protect you or your loved one. So, you know, that's a really good question. We, part of our job is to make sure that we put those pieces together to show that they did not provide a safe place to work, right? They knew that the chemicals, and we have the documents, they know that chemicals and products have been dangerous since the '50s, right, sometimes before then. So it's our job to put those pieces together, but they're required to provide that safe working environment. And they can't look to, you know, the spestest manufacturer or some other folks that say, oh, well, we, you know, they gave us the product. No, you used it, you had your railroaders use it, you knew about it, you're responsible for it. And you bring up such a good point, and I just can't help but say this out loud again, railroaders do not have workers comp. Oh, yeah. This is a unique thing that is not surprisingly common, it's not commonly known by the public, and we've run into railroaders who don't realize that. Railroaders do not have workers comp. The FLA allows them to proceed against the carrier, and people think, well, I don't want to go against my company or whatnot, but the carrier who has the knowledge, who has the experience as responsible, we're providing a safe work environment, and you don't have comp. I just cannot express that enough, you do not have workers comp. It is a zero-sum game which again, since Shivers Down must spawn sometimes, but that is the system that exists That we that we didn't create that we work within to protect and so if you don't have That tenacious lawyer who's competent who's willing to go that extra distance for you willing to take that risk with you willing to lean into the case with you Your case is is a zero-sum game risk for you and your family because there's no work Now I think it's excellent point that we probably should repeat every time we're on podcasts because You know and what's what's scary and sad is that and I think this kind of illustrates the The length that the carriers will go to to Missing form is that how many rivers do we have that call and go? Well the claims department said I'm comp right they put that on my my forms They told me I have workers comp. It's just a little different They don't tell them anything about their timeframes their rights none of that so it's it's misleading and then You know again, I think your point's excellent a lot of our rare rotors say well a lot I have workers comp right everyone knows that workers have comp and I and I think this is worth noting too. I mean we've we've seen this we've seen a carrier drag out a claim with Our client he wasn't our client yet for Three years When the three-year mark told when he called back to check in But no answer No answer had to keep scrambling around to find someone to talk to Found the guy on the phone with somebody at the carriers office somewhere and that person informs him that the three years has lapsed and he is How do you say so well? Yes, I will so well and for those who don't know it I'm not gonna say that but he's out of luck He's out of luck and so we we had to wrestle with that case and his claim was prescribed and the carrier I hate to say let him on but they kept the communications open for three years and then after three years I said you don't have a claim anymore. It's gone That happened. Yep Scary so I think at the end of the day when we talk about What we do we talk about humble service lawyers who serve That is what we do and so I think for us being resources for railroads. We're here for you for whatever questions you may have and I and I also Again, this is another thing that I think is important. I think sometimes Partner maybe you talk about this a little bit. I think sometimes when especially as a men asking for help or asking a question Can be taken as a sign of weakness but the reality is a sign of strength and it's courageous because People who ask for help will then figure things out and then actually make better decisions because I have more Affirmation at the time that they need to make the decision right no. I think that's excellent point. I mean just Ask us the question we say here a lot, you know that this is a safe place, right? That you can you can call and ask us Anything that's on your heart and on your mind and especially with what we're talking about today partner with cancer. I mean You're dealing with so much as it is, right? I mean and That doesn't need to be an added stress or to you. Let us take that from you and help you figure that out and then give you our best advice on how to move forward Right and so I think it's a great point just Call right just ask the questions part of our job is to tell you good bad and ugly right? So we're gonna give you the right you know We're gonna not gonna walk you down a road with that letting you know why we're gonna walk down that road with you And so it's good to just to ask the questions and if you don't want to call like have your wife call right? Thank you You know you worried about it, you know or yeah, if you have a friend call or if you're a younger or if you're younger Send the text to do the live chat We have we we're trying to get rid of the any any hurdles or friction to get to us because at the end of the day I think what is surprising and and and like especially with veterans we see this a lot where People don't want to ask for help or whatnot and then we'll say just turn the chest board around What would you do if somebody asked you for help and you see the response like oh? I do oh whatever they need I go do this. Oh, I figured out whatever and then and then so turn the chest board background Well, why can't you ask the question and so it it kind of gives me goosebumps thinking about it because I don't know if it's a male thing You know kind of hard-headed ask the question, but I think saying I need help. Let me go figured out That's okay and and it is brave. It is yeah, and it's confidential Yes, there's no obligation right it's for us service means a lot to us and so we enjoy Figuring things out we enjoy creative problem solving and we enjoy meeting people and knowing people like that's what we do We do and so for us it's it's just be it's literally being a resource for railroader. You're not putting us out It's what we do We serve and that in case answering questions right of course. Yeah, and I think what we say often is we want to be we're We're your lawyers for you and your family on and off the track, right? So if it's something that you you need you know don't hesitate to call we're gonna if we can't help you We're gonna find somebody that can right now. That's a that's a great way to put a partner so for For us here at at at at at P.O. That does it for episode seven of a Stammer track podcast our vision is to help 500 Families battling injuries and legal disputes by year 2028 Our models that we help people who are hurt our goals are in each client's trust by showing up for them every day When we say P.O. in our office we think protecting others We started this podcast to share knowledge experience and insights free of charge to better spread our vision and serve our communities near and far For everyone listening and thank you very much tell us something good Please like us and share our vision on Facebook and social media so others may learn more about what we do and who we help for Corissa. I'm Danny. Thank you for staying on track with Pulsano and law firm. Thank you