Background
Following the end of the Civil War, railroads expanded rapidly throughout the United States. The increased traffic was accompanied by an increase in accidents among railroad personnel, especially brakemen. Many accidents were associated with coupling and uncoupling of railroad cars, and particularly with the use of link-and-pin couplers, which were widely in use at the time. The operation of manually operated brakes (hand brakes) was also very hazardous. The rise in accidents led to calls for safety legislation, as early as the 1870s. In the 1880s, the number of on-the-job fatalities of railroad workers was second only to those of coal miners. Through that decade, several state legislatures enacted safety laws. 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.
Read more about this topic: Railroad Safety Appliance Act
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