An oil rig fire has left five workers injured. The accident occurred on Friday in La Salle County. The oilrig belonging to Pioneer Natural Resources was operating when a fire started around 7 pm on Friday evening. Other workers helped put out the fire. Emergency personnel are still trying to piece together the determining factors of this accident. Fortunatley, no wrongful deaths were reported.
The five workers injured in the accident were flown to San Antonio Military Medical Center where they remain under medical care. We pray for the workers’ full and speedy recovery.
The injured individuals will likely to require future treatment. Burn injuries are known to be excruciatingly painful, take long to heal, and leave behind scars, both physically and emotionally.
Employers have a duty to provide proper training and safety measures to ensure that tragedies do not occu. Oftentimes, after an accident an employers will allege that an employee is an independent contractor and as such will claim that the employer had a lesser duty to the independent contract. This is often not the case, as independent contractors are often misclassified. Independent contractors must exercise a certain level of independence to be classified as such.
This is not the first incident at a Pioneer Natural Resources. According the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) website a Nordheim, Texas facility was the site of a fatality in 2000. The employee involved in that incident was killed when struck by pipe cap that was ejected by 950 lb. of pressure. Pioneer Natural Resources was fined a mere $4,500 for the incident. It is unknown if a wronful death lawsuit was filed in connection with this accident.
– Article by Richard Weaver, a Texas personal injury attorney