Drill rig accidents can be devastating — both for the environment and for the people involved. While the Texas oil and gas industry is booming, companies are looking to extract all they can while demand and profits are high.
This drive to take advantage of the ongoing Texas boom can mean increased danger to the workers who bring the products to market. Sometimes, the urgency to produce can cause some industry employees to behave recklessly or even negligently, increasing the risk of oil and gas accidents.
What Are Some Common Drill Rig Accidents?
Working in the oil and gas industry comes with known risks that have the potential to be life-altering or even deadly. Whether working onshore or offshore, the industry is one of the most dangerous in Texas, with potential for accidents at every step of the process.
Working on a drill rig is particularly dangerous, regardless of location. Workers face a variety of potentially catastrophic dangers, such as:
- Being hurt by fires or explosions caused by sparks from equipment
- Getting caught in blowouts, explosions, or fires in production tanks
- Being struck by moving equipment like pipes or cables
- Getting crushed by heavy equipment or even cargo loads
- Catching limbs in machinery
- Failing safety equipment
- Falling from derricks, ladders, platforms, cranes, or any other high place
- Being exposed to occupational noises
Some of the common harms caused by accidents on drill rigs are:
- Broken bones
- Loss of limbs
- Head trauma
- Severe burns
- Crush injuries
- Back injuries
- Deafness
- Electrocution
- Suffocation
While serious accidents resulting in death are not common, they do happen — and the reality is that even non-deadly accidents have the potential to change your life in an instant by disrupting both your ability to do your job and your quality of life.
Take a look at some of the injuries that affected drill rig workers between 2012 and 2020, as reported by OSHA:
- Injury caused by being caught in a kelly drive
- Finger amputation caused by being caught in the jaws of a clamp
- Crushed leg from being struck by equipment
- Injury from a swinging auger impact to the chest
- Hospitalization from a fall while lifting a pipe
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement reported 33 offshore explosions between 2007 and 2018. In most cases, when minor explosions or other incidents occur, companies seek to manage the consequences in-house, even when offshore, to prevent disruption to production.
As the drive to increase oil production continues, it’s more important than ever for drill rig workers to understand their rights and contact an oil and gas accident attorney if they believe they have been injured as a result of a failure to maintain safety standards or someone else’s negligent behavior.
What Rights Do I Have When Injured in a Drill Rig Accident?
Shifts on rigs are often long and exhausting, but some injuries can be prevented with proper safety standards, equipment maintenance, and working conditions. If you have been injured in a drill rig accident, an attorney can help you determine the cause of your accident and whether you may have a case for compensation.
Whether you believe your injury was incorrectly diagnosed on-site or are seeking a legal review of your accident, the team at FVF Law can assist you in understanding your rights. We may be able to help you seek financial security in the event that you have now lost your ability to earn an income in the manner you were before your injury.
Why Should I Trust FVF?
At FVF Law, we are committed to helping you understand your options when you are injured in an accident on a drill rig. Should you have a legal claim for compensation and need representation, we want you to understand that we accept only cases we believe we can add substantial value to — enough to pay for the cost of fighting for your case and then some. We work on a contingency fee basis, so you always know what to expect.
For us, it’s about people, not cases. FVF’s free, no-commitment case consultations with a drill rig accident attorney near you are intended to help you make decisions about your future that are in your best interest. Contact us today to schedule your free consultation.
