This page is part of our public exclusion list — a transparency tool that shows which companies we screen out and why. It is not investment advice, and it is not an accusation. But it is subject to change as our understanding of the facts evolves.
CSX Corporation is a major U.S. freight railroad operator. The company has faced multiple OSHA enforcement actions for unsafe working conditions and has been cited for retaliating against workers who report safety concerns, a pattern documented across the Class I railroad industry.
ViolationTracker records 2,065 safety-related offense records against CSX since 2000, carrying a combined penalty total of $23,081,849. Of those, 2,054 are categorized specifically as railroad safety violations, accounting for $22,791,250 in penalties — the largest single offense type by record count in CSX's enforcement history. The railroad safety violation record count of 2,054 represents the overwhelming majority of CSX's 2,137 total enforcement records across all offense categories, indicating that workplace and operational safety failures are not episodic but constitute a structural and persistent pattern across the company's operations.
The U.S. Department of Labor's OSHA issued an enforcement action against CSX in August 2014, adding to the administrative record of federal safety enforcement against the company. The Federal Railroad Administration has also engaged CSX through confidential close-call reporting systems aimed at human performance failures on the railroad — a program whose existence at this scale reflects sustained concern among federal regulators about safety culture and near-miss rates in CSX's operating environment.
No evidence in the available record indicates that CSX has adopted remedial safety programs, entered into a corporate-wide compliance agreement, or otherwise demonstrated a structural departure from the conduct pattern reflected in the 2,054 railroad safety violation records. The penalty record spans more than two decades, with no documented break in the frequency of enforcement actions.
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Companies appear on our exclusion list based on our investment judgment — not because they've done anything illegal. This is a difference of values and opinion, not an accusation of wrongdoing. Exclusion does not constitute a recommendation against investing in any company, and absence from the list does not constitute a recommendation to invest.
This information is provided for educational and transparency purposes only and should not be relied upon as investment advice. Data is drawn from independent watchdogs, NGOs, government registries, and Ethical Capital's ongoing research — see Research Sources for the full list.
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