Railroad worker injuries are covered under the Federal Employees Liability Act which requires that a railroad maintains their fleet, ensuring that their trains are in good working order and free of defects. If a railroad does not comply with these standards, they may be liable for injuries to their workers. Damages railroad workers may receive include medical treatments, present and future lost wages and mental trauma. An injury on the railway can range from a minor sprain to a spinal injury so severe that it leads to death. Some of the most common injuries that affect railway workers are head trauma, knee injuries, back injuries, neck injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome, brain trauma or spinal cord injuries. The Federal Employees Liability Act protects railroad workers and others as diverse as clerical employees whose day-to-day functions do not directly involve trains or outdoor activity.
Jacksonville Beach, also referred to locally as "Jax Beach", is a city to the east of Jacksonville, Florida. The current mayor is Fland Sharp. When the majority of communities in Duval County consolidated with Jacksonville in 1968, Jacksonville Beach, along with Neptune Beach, Atlantic Beach, and Baldwin, Florida, remained quasi-independent. Like the other towns within Duval County that are not part of Jacksonville, it maintains its own municipal government but its residents vote in the Jacksonville mayoral and city council elections. The population was 20,990 at the 2000 census. As of 2005, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 21,770, giving the city a population density of 2,827/mi² (1,094/km²). Although the French Huguenots led by Captain Jean Ribault laid claim to the First Coast in 1562, it was the Spanish who first settled the Jacksonville Beach area, establishing missions from Mayport to St. Augustine. The Spanish ceded East Florida to the English by treaty in 1763 only to regain control twenty years later. In 1821 the Spanish ceded Florida to the United States of America. The Jacksonville Beaches area has been inhabited since at least 1837 when Mayport was made a port, but it was not until 1883 that the Jacksonville and Atlantic Railroad established "Ruby Beach" in modern-day Jacksonville Beach. The settlement was renamed "Pablo Beach" three years later, and was incorporated as a town in 1907. The name was changed to "Jacksonville Beach" in 1925. Jacksonville Beach is the largest town in the Jacksonville Beaches community. It is the eastern terminus of U.S. Route 90, which ends at an intersections with State Road A1A three blocks from the Atlantic Ocean.