Oklahoma Oil Rig Explosion Claims the Lives of Five Workers

On Monday January 22, 2018, five workers died in an explosion on an oil drilling rig in Oklahoma, which is being considered the deadliest oil and gas accident since the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010 which claimed 11 lives. The oil rig that exploded is owned by Patterson-UTI, a Houston-bases drilling and hydraulic fracturing company with an abysmal safety record.

A story in the Insurance Journal reports that Patterson-UTI is one of the nation’s worst violators of workplace safety laws, and that at least 20 of their employees have died on the job between 2002 and 2007. The explosion occurred at a natural gas drilling site near Quinton, which is about 100 miles southeast of Tulsa. The Insurance Journal story reports that an initial incident report indicates that there was an uncontrolled release of gas that caught fire and a worker at the scene tried unsuccessfully to shut down the well. State Impact reports that a rig worker attempted to activate a device known as a blowout preventer to shut off the well but was unable to. The five men who died in the blast were found in the “dog house,” which is a control room located near the drilling platform.

Patterson-UTI President and CEO Andy Hendricks said in a statement, “There is nothing more important to us than the safety of our employees and others we partner with in the field. Tonight, our thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected and their loved ones.”

Better regulation is necessary to protect workers

You might think that in such a dangerous industry there would be strict safety regulations that would require employers to protect their employees, but you would be mistaken. Why? Because thanks to the intense lobbying on the part of the oil and gas extraction industry, there are lax health and safety rules which have contributed to the unbelievably high workplace fatality rate in the industry. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that between 2003 to 2013, 1,189 oil and gas workers lost their lives on the job from workplace hazards such as falls, vehicle collisions and other dangerous conditions. In 2012 alone, there were a record 142 workplace fatalities in the industry. As far back as the 1980s, OSHA proposed industry-specific rules due to the lack of adequate regulatory protection which has contributed to the high number of deaths in the industry. But thanks to successful industry lobbying efforts, oil and gas drillers are self-regulated.

International Business Times compares this to the regulation of the almost equally dangerous coal mining industry. The Mine Safety and Health Administration conducts mandatory inspections of surface mines twice each year. There is not a similar requirement for the oil and gas drilling sites which are subject to OSHA’s infrequent inspection regimen and because the agency has enough federal inspectors to inspect workplaces only once every 140 years.

Coincidentally, on the day after the Quinton oil rig explosion, the Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down a section of the state workers’ compensation law, which gave blanket immunity to owners and operators of oil and gas well sites. This change in the law was introduced when the worker’s compensation statutes were revised in 2011. In a unanimous decision with one recusal, the decision was passed as the judges found the provision to be an, “unconstitutional special law,” and that, “no valid reason exists for the special treatment of the oil and gas industry.” No longer will the owner or operator of an oil or gas well be considered an intermediate or principal employer, which means that they no longer have immunity from liability when workers are injured or die due to employer negligence in the workplace.

The primary author of the revision of the workers’ compensation laws in 2011 was Senator Anthony Sykes. Interestingly, Senator Sykes received almost $13,000 in donations between 2009 and 2011 from individuals and groups in the oil and gas industry.

At Cunningham & Mears, we protect workers who were hurt in the patch, as well as their families. We will continue to fight for better regulations designed to protect them. To speak with an experienced Oklahoma City injury lawyer, please call 405-232-1212, or fill out our contact form.