Dallas Oil Field Injury Lawyers and Legal Counsel
How a Dallas Texas personal injury attorney can assist oilfield refinery accident victims.
Texas is the country’s top crude oil and natural gas-producing state, which accounted for more than 40% of crude oil production and 26% of natural gas nationally. Although there was a reduced demand in 2020, the U.S. still consumed over 18 million barrels of petroleum and petroleum products daily. Data from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health claims that a person working in the oil, or gas industry is six times more likely to die on the job than any other American worker. Dallas Oilfield injury lawyers at the Cooper Law Firm will be able to assist oil refinery accident victims in Dallas Texas utilizing personal injury laws and the Texas Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Statutes to support case building efforts.
Toxic cleanup.
Dallas residents and the thriving chemical and oil industries, along with the industrial manufacturing facilities in the region have a love /hate relationship, as they each benefit from the rich and plentiful resources under the ground and at the water’s edge, but at great costs to employees, residents, and landowners. Toxic chemical exposure can take weeks to months and sometimes years before it becomes apparent, causing oilfield injury to go undetected. Victims can suffer breathing problems, rashes, burns, develop cancer, or die. There have been cases where oilfield workers have brought home traces of toxic chemicals on their clothes, making their families ill as well. Accident victims in Dallas who suspect that toxic oilfield chemical toxic exposure may have resulted in illness should hire an experienced Dallas oilfield injury attorney.
Oil field dangers.
Working at an oilfield is a dangerous job, but if proper safety precautions are addressed, it is not as risky of a work place as imagined, even if the minimum requirements of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) specific to that occupation are met. Deviations from standard requirements can lead to disastrous outcomes for workers, and negligence is often the cause for work site accidents at oilfields including gas pipeline explosions, industrial vehicle accidents, silica exposure, other chemical exposures, and collapsing rigs.
Oil rig dangers.
A floater platform rig is a type of offshore oil rig platform. Some of the largest movable man-made structures in the world are these lake and sea-based oil platforms and oil rigs. A floater oil platform houses the workers and machinery needed to drill and produce oil and natural gas extracted from beneath the ocean floor. These floating production systems are used in water depths from 600 to 6,000 feet. They are among the most common types of offshore rigs found in the Gulf of Mexico. Oilfield workers risk falling from dangerous heights in severe weather, and being caught in, or hit by machinery. Floater platform rig crew members work long stressful hours, which can contribute to fatigue and judgment error. Working with oil and natural gas is inherently dangerous due to the combustible and volatile nature of these compounds. Since the wellheads of floater platform rigs are located on the sea floor rather than a surface platform, extra care must be taken by the rig operators to avoid leaks that may cause fires and explosions. Consultation with an oilfield injury lawyer in Dallas is prudent after an accident occurs.
Work site accidents in Dallas.
Oilfield workers are exposed to many dangers utilizing heavy machinery, working with large unstable compression valves, toxic chemicals, and electrical components related to big rigging. Supervisors and maintenance managers owe employees the duty of patrolling work areas regularly to make sure there are no deviations from safety standards, and to check for naturally-occurring dangers related to weather changes, or aging equipment. Experienced Dallas oilfield attorneys can assist accident victims when deviation from work safety standards causes harms related to:
- Electrocution caused by defective equipment, lack of communication, electrical components that are frayed or weather-worn, and powerlines. Dangers of electrocution include cardiac arrest, muscle, nerve and tissue damage, thermal burns, and organ damage. The severity of injury depends on the voltage, how long the body is subjected to it, and the person’s state of health at the time of the incident.
- Gas explosion blast explosions can harm employees in a large area of a facility and injure persons who are even at a significant distance from the initial blast site. Safety protocols and mandatory training are necessary. Dangers of gas pipeline explosions include severe burns, lung damage from smoke inhalation, brain injuries and bodily damage to collapse in rigging equipment, hemorrhage from shockwaves, and wrongful death.
- Falls can occur from heights such as an offshore outboard, or being hit by falling objects that become missile-like,. Traumatic brain injury could result from falls and explosion blasts that violently propel workers to falls.
Negligence.
Negligent parties to an oilfield accident can include a single worker, but more often there are shortcomings in inspections and maintenance that lead to accidents at Dallas oil refineries. Liability can fall on to companies, supervisors, equipment suppliers, parts manufacturers, parent company for failure to train workers, and/or individuals working on site.
Wrongful death accidents in Dallas.
Oilfield accidents in Dallas are generally catastrophic events that can cause severe and lasting detriment through injury to workers including illness, broken bones, burns, brain damage and wrongful death. Wrongful death proceedings are more involved and require the assistance of a legal professional. Dallas wrongful death lawyers can guide loved ones of oilfield accident victims toward compensation to cover medical expenses incurred up to the time of death, funeral and burial expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and punitive damages.
Individuals who have been injured in a Dallas oilfield accident should contact a competent legal professional in Texas, who has successfully handled and settled many oilfield injury cases with good results. Cooper Law Firm lawyers can objectively speak on a Dallas accident victim’s behalf in a courtroom, and work toward damage recovery through workers’ compensation claims and insurance settlements, or court awards.
Cooper Law Firm
N. Eric Cooper
Address: Dallas, TX
Telephone ; (903) 297-0037
Toll-Free: 1-855-297-HURT (4878)
Facsimile: (903) 236-0035
Sources:
https://www.tdi.texas.gov/wc/index.html
https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.101.htm
https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.127.htm
