Are in Odessa, Texas? Were you or your loved one injured while working the oil fields?
Give Carabin Shaw a call. We can help. Call us at 800-862-1260
Ector County and its rick oil company sits atop the Permian Basin. The oil was discovered in the Permian Basin area at least 100 years ago. As of today, the area is responsible for at least one fifth of all natural gas and petroleum production in the United States. Our Ector County is currently home to many thousands of oil field and drilling rig workers. They get good pay, but they work long hours and this type of work unsafe to say the least. The federal “Occupational Safety and Health Administration” (OSHA) published a long study in 2011. This federal study found that more of our Texas workers died while working in gas field service and onshore oil operations than died doing any other type of work. (http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/Workplace-Deaths-Drop—But-Not-in-the-Oil-Industry-190620491.html) This study included people employed in oil and gas extraction as tool pushers, roustabouts, welders, derrick men, roof bolters, roughnecks, mining equipment operators, drillers, etc. While onshore gas and oil field service operations are safer now than they have been historically, each year, an unfortunate average of at least 39 workers in Texas die each and every year from accidents connected to oil field and drilling rig work.
Why are oil and gas field work and drilling rig so dangerous? Gas and oil production involves a great deal of complicated engineering, heights, electrical equipment, truck operations and heavy machinery. These types of work are dangerous when done under good conditions. In a gas or oil field, they become quite hazardous. Handling gas and oil is inherently dangerous due to the risk of poisonous gas leaks, fires and explosions. Mistakes during the drilling process frequently happen and cause these types of accidents and more. These dangers happen suddenly, such as an explosion which causes flying metal and fires; or accidents can be insidious, invisible and very hard to detect, such as a leak of poisoned gas.
In some cases employers do not give their people the proper can correct training when they are newly employed. They sometimes also do not issue the proper safety equipment, or do the needed maintenance always required to keep a job site safe. Additionally, some companies push employees hard to make more money for the company by having employees take risks to save time, to work excessively long hours, and to work at faster pace than is safe. Drilling rig and workers in the gas and oil fields are also sometimes exposed to risks by employees of outside contractors and suppliers. These employees of outside companies may be negligent or simply untrained. They can and do ignore safety rules and do things that can led to unsafe work sites or equipment failures. Big companies sometimes hire these outside companies and their employees in order to save money. Accidents can and do happen when the correctly strict safety standards required on work sites are not maintained.
Many accidents in the oil gas fields result in wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits. These can involve injuries cause by falls from rigs, falling equipment or tools, equipment failure, defective products; burns from pressured tank or wellhead explosions or electrocutions. Due to the very real dangers of these work sites, injuries are often unfortunately serious.
Our experienced oil field injury team is standing by to help you protect your rights. We can get you the best possible chance to get the maximum recovery allowed by law.
Are in Odessa, Texas? Were you or your loved one injured while working the oil fields?
Give Carabin Shaw a call. We can help. Call us at 800-862-1260