Caught Between the Cars: A Laborer Sues the Great Northern
Maimed when a work train left him no escape from a slide, a laborer takes the railroad to court arguing it sacrificed its men's safety.
Brines, a laborer, yesterday filed suit in the superior court against the Great Northern railway, alleging damages for personal injuries. Brines says that while at work in a slide near Bear Creek he was injured. He charges that in the exercise of care and prudence it was the duty of the company to uncouple cars from the steam shovel and from each other, so that the workmen might be afforded a facility of escape in case of another slide. It is charged that by direction of the foreman the steam shovel and cars were placed so as to form an impassable barrier, and Brines was caught between the cars and a slide and permanently injured.
“It is charged that by direction of the foreman the steam shovel and cars were placed so as to form an impassable barrier, and Brines was caught between the cars and a slide.”
Worker safety on the rails was a matter of life and limb long before OSHA existed. Brines's negligence suit is the same kind of claim that still lands in King County court whenever an employer trades a worker's safety for speed and convenience.
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