Railroad Safety Appliance Act

However, the specific requirements varied among the states, making implementation difficult for interstate rail carriers, and Congress passed the Safety Appliance Act in 1893 to provide a uniform standard.

[1]: 6–7  Former Iowa railroad commissioner Lorenzo Coffin doggedly lobbied for the act almost singlehandedly for six years before Congress finally passed the bill in 1893.

[2] The original act was entitled, "An Act to Promote the Safety of Employees and Travelers upon Railroads by Compelling Common Carriers Engaged in Interstate Commerce to Equip Their Cars with Automatic Couplers and Continuous Brakes and Their Locomotives with Driving-wheel Brakes, and for Other Purposes.

Starting on January 1, 1898, unlawful for a common carrier used for interstate commerce to use locomotive engine not equipped with a power driving-wheel brake and appliances for operating the train-brake system.

An employee injured in a train that is not in compliance with this act will not need to bear the risk occasioned even if he knew that it was unlawful to do things that way and still continued working for the employer.

The original law was amended by a subsequent act in 1903, whose first section provides that the requirements of the original act respecting train brakes, automatic couplers, and grab irons shall be held to apply to all trains and cars used on any railroad engaged in interstate commerce, unless a minor exception were satisfied.

[4] By an order promulgated June 6, 1910, the Commission increased the minimum number of cars whose train brakes must be under the engineer's control to 85 percent.

A 1910 legislative amendment required additional equipment, including ladders, sill steps, and hand brakes.

Modern US boxcar showing automatic coupler , air brake hose and grab bars, all mandated by the Safety Appliance Act. The bent rod at far left allows the coupler to be disengaged by a worker standing safely at the side of the car, per Section 2 of the Act.