Diesel Exhaust

Potential Diseases Caused By Diesel Exhaust Exposure

Every day at work, craft-union workers are exposed to diesel exhaust. Further, exposure to diesel exhaust is chronic. Failure to protect from diesel exhaust combined with chronic exposure will very likely result in a chemical disease. Although the harmful effects upon railroad workers of exposure to diesel exhaust has been the subject of several studies and has been known for many years, most of the railroads have done little or nothing about taking preventive measures, or informing their employees of the hazards. There are two chemical diseases one can contract from diesel exhaust exposure; obstructive lung disease, and cancer. In addition to entering the body through the respiratory system, harmful diesel exhaust components can enter the body through the eyes, possibly causing permanent damage to the optic nerve, and possibly even to the brain and central nervous system.

If you have been affected by diesel exhaust exposure, you may have a legal right to compensation. Click here to contact a diesel exhaust attorney now.

Obstructive Lung Disease

A recent study determined that between 40% and 50% of train service workers suffer from the effects of obstructive lung disease as a result of their chronic, unprotected exposure to diesel exhaust. Railroaders who work in the shop crafts, as well as the maintenance of way and signal department have also suffered the effects of chemical disease when exposed to diesel exhaust in the workplace.

The effect of obstructive lung disease is shortness of breath. Diesel exhaust exposure causes obstructive lung disease by the deposit of diesel soot into your lungs. Diesel exhaust's ultra-fine particles lodge in the lungs where the particles cannot be easily removed by the lung itself (mucociliary escalator). Eventually, these fine particles clog the lumen in the lungs and gradually the lungs lose their elasticity and become less and less able to expand and contract with each breath. Each day of exposure to diesel exhaust results in accumulation of the particles that restrict breathing.

Another common outcome of obstructive lung disease is diesel asthma. Diesel asthma is commonly mistaken for an allergy. Sufferers of diesel asthma notice that once exposed to diesel exhaust there is sudden shortness of breath or quick on-set hypersensitivity to diesel exhaust, both of which occur without warning. This reaction to diesel exhaust becomes increasingly severe and persists long after exposure has ceased. Over years, obstructive lung disease may cause the loss of fifty percent or more of the lung's capacity.

Compared to chronic, unprotected, diesel exhaust exposure, cigarette smoke is an innocuous. Further, modern diagnostics are capable of distinguishing between the lung damage cause by diesel exhaust as opposed to cigarette smoke.

Cancer

There is medical evidence that exposure to diesel exhaust causes cancer in humans. Medical studies of workers chronically exposed to diesel exhaust show that diesel exhaust causes lung cancer, urinary tract cancer, bladder cancer, cancer of the stomach, prostate, mouth, larynx, esophagus and colon. Further, the type of cancer caused by diesel exhaust typically becomes metastatic.

Diesel Encephalopathy

Lastly, medical professionals have recently made a connection between diesel exhaust and diesel encephalopathy. A recent study of workers tied diesel exhaust exposure to memory deficits, sensory losses, equilibrium imbalances and mood swings. Diesel Encephalopathy is a relatively new discovery, but some claim it can be detected.

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Diesel Exhaust Components

Diesel exhaust is a mixture of over 9,000 different components which are produced when diesel fuel is burned in a diesel engine. Diesel exhaust is made up of particulates (soot) and various gases. The most prevalent gases that are present are sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and various complex compounds called aldehydes. Each one of these has been recognized as pollutants and should be regulated in the workplace. Many of these components are potentially very dangerous and carcinogenic.

The following is a brief description of some of the most prevalent and potentially hazardous components of diesel exhaust.

• Particulates are microscopic, carbon based solid particles which can become affixed to a particular surface like soot does to the inside of a chimney. Approximately 90% of diesel emission particulates can be inhaled into the respiratory system and into the deep lung where they may remain for days. Studies have shown that some of the compounds in diesel particulates are mutagens, and carcinogens, and, as a result, there can be an interference with the reproduction of lung cells and a loss or reduction of lung function.
• Carbon monoxide is a gas which is composed of carbon and oxygen and is formed as a consequence of incomplete combustion. By itself, it is colorless, odorless and tasteless. Although diesel engines are generally more efficient and thus produce less carbon monoxide per measure of fuel than do gas powered engines because they have so many more cylinders that are so much larger than those of an automotive engine, the overall exposure to railroaders can be far greater. As a consequence, railroader workers may suffer chronic exposure to measurable levels of carbon monoxide and ironically develop a tolerance for it. When there is intense exposure for several minutes or more the brain and peripheral nerves can become oxygen starved. This is called "carbon monoxide poisoning" and in certain cases, permanent irreversible nerve and brain damage can occur.
• Nitrogen Oxides (NOX's) are compounds of nitrogen and oxygen which are produced when the nitric acid present in diesel exhaust reacts with oxygen. For persons not chronically exposed, the nitrogen oxide will usually be absorbed into the mucus lining of the upper respiratory tract without causing any significant medical problems. However, if it attaches itself to the carbon particles of diesel exhaust, it will be able to travel significantly further into the lungs, it has been shown to cause damage to the hair like cells in the bronchial tubes and thereby cause damage to the lungs defense mechanism. Studies have also demonstrated that NOX's increase pulmonary response to irritants.
• Sulfur oxides are compounds that are formed when sulfur and oxygen are combined during the burning of diesel fuel. When sulfur and oxygen are combined, they form a dilute acid like pollutant which can irritate the membranes that line the respiratory tract and thereby can cause damage to the body's defense mechanisms. It has been shown that a person who is asthmatic may be extremely sensitive to such oxides and thereby suffer further injury to their respiratory system as a result of such exposure.
• Hydrocarbons like carbon monoxide are cause by the incomplete combustion of all fossil fuels including diesel fuel. It is the hydrocarbons that are primarily responsible for the characteristic odor of diesel exhaust. Hydrocarbons, which are molecules that are formed when carbon and hydrogen atoms combine, can attach themselves to diesel particulates and thereby find their way deep into the lungs.

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Studies of the Harmful Effects of Diesel Exhaust Exposure on Railroad Workers

Various studies over the years have demonstrated that exposure to diesel exhaust has resulted in significant health risks to workers such as those in the railroad industry. As stated previously, studies and medical literature have suggested that exposure to diesel exhaust may cause a host of more serious medical problems such as lung or bladder cancer since carcinogenic compounds can be easily inhaled into the lungs or even swallowed and thereby drawn into the gastrointestinal tract and lymphatic system. Other studies have additionally demonstrated that exposure can adversely affect the internal organs such as one's heart. More than 40 epidemiological studies of workers have examined the associate between exposure to diesel exhaust and the risk of lung cancer. Some of the more prominent review articles are:

• Health Assessment Document for Diesel Engine Exhaust. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Center for Environmental Assessment, Washington, DC, EPA/600/8-90/057F, 2002.
• Bhatia R, Lopipero P, Smith AH. 1998. "Diesel exhaust exposure and lung cancer." Epidemiology 9:84-91.
• Boffetta P, Jourenkova N, Gustavsson P. 1997. "Cancer risk from occupational and environmental exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons." Cancer Causes Control 8:444-472.
• Cohen AJ, Higgins MWP. 1995. "Health effects of diesel exhaust: Epidemiology." In: Diesel Exhaust: A Critical Analysis of Emissions, Exposure, and Health Effects. A Special Report of the Institute's Diesel Working Group. Health Effects Institute, Cambridge, MA.
• Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. 1998. Health Risk Assessment for Diesel Exhaust, February 1998. California Environmental Protection Agency, Sacramento, CA.
• World Health Organization. 1996. Diesel Fuel and Exhaust Emissions: International Program on Chemical Safety. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
• United States Environmental Protection Agency. 1998. Health Assessment Document from Diesel Emissions.
• Garshick E, Schenker MB, Munoz A, Segal M, Smith TJ, Woskie SR, Hammond SK, Speizer FE. 1988. A retrospective cohort study of lung cancer and diesel exhaust exposure in railroad workers.
• Crump KS . 1999. "Lung Cancer mortality and diesel exhaust: reanalysis of a retrospective cohort study of US railroad workers." Inhalation Toxicol 11(1):1-17.
• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. 1998. "Carcinogenic Effects of Exposure to Diesel Exhaust." NIOSHA Current Intelligence Bullitin 50. DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 88-116. Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA

In response to these studies, the railroads have sought to escape culpability and liability by advancing the argument that the medical proof that diesel exposure results in injury to their workers is inconclusive. The railroads continue to claim that many of the medical aliments of railroad workers are due to smoking, exposure to passive smoke, pre-existing medical problems or exposure to other toxic and/or carcinogens outside the workplace rather than to the known exposure regularly occurring in the workplace.

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Legal Responsibility of The Railroads Under The FELA and Boiler Inspection Act For Exposing Their Workers To the Potentially Harmful Effects of Diesel Exhaust

Under the Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA), a railroad has a duty to exercise ordinary care under the circumstances to provide its employees with a reasonably safe place within which to work. Court decisions interpreting the FELA have held that the railroads owe a duty to provide reasonably safe and suitable tools, machinery and appliances with which to work, to institute and oversee reasonably safe methods for the performance of work, and to warn of potential dangers and hazardous conditions, etc.

In 1991, the Boiler Inspection Act (BIA) (also known as the Locomotive Inspection Act) was enacted. This statute, which applies principally to locomotive engineers and other operating department employees who must work in and on engine locomotives that are "in service" (not being repaired), imposed an absolute duty on a railroad carrier for violation of its requirements which the railroad cannot escape by claiming that it exercised some degree of care. The Act "imposes upon the carrier an absolute and continuing duty to maintain the locomotive and all parts and appurtenances thereof, in proper condition, and safe to operate...without unnecessary peril to life or limb". Under the BIA, unlike the FELA, the possible contributory negligence of the worker himself is neither a defense nor an issue if the defendant is found to have violated the statute.

It can be argued that in these cases that the defendant railroad violated one or both of these Acts by failing to have the engine compartment windows and doors properly sealed so as to properly prevent the seepage of exhaust fumes into the cab, or failing to install respirators, ventilators or properly working safety masks on units so as to protect the employees against continuous exposure. Further, one could argue that the violating railroad failed to properly train its workers as to what to do if exposed to significant amounts of diesel exhaust, or that it negligently failed to have an appropriate safety plan in existence for such circumstances.

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Statute of Limitations on FELA Actions

The statute of limitations on FELA cases is three years from the first date that the injured employee either actually knew of an injury or a potential injury, or should have known of the injury. There have been cases where the employee knew or had some reason to know that they had a problem or which they or their doctor believed was caused by their work conditions. Yet, they were reluctant to discuss it with anyone or to notify the railroad. Unfortunately, the railroad may have the advantage if the injured worker waited so long that the railroad could successfully contend that the worker knew or should have known of the injury and therefore is precluded from filing a lawsuit and obtaining a recovery.

If you have been affected by diesel exhaust exposure, you may have a legal right to compensation. Click here to contact a diesel exhaust attorney now.

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