Eagle Ford Shale Oil & Gas Worker killed in Maverick County
By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2014, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.
An Eagle Ford Shale oil and gas worker was killed in a freak accident while working on an oil drilling rig near El Indio, Texas, within Maverick County, on December 22, 2014. The victim was identified as Jose Domingo Hernandez from Edinburg, Texas and worked for an oil drilling exploration company.
Initial reports state that Hernandez was hit in the upper torso by a duct cover as it exploded and became a projectile impacting him; thus, taking his life.
Although the growing oil and gas activity has claimed other lives especially in highway accident deaths in our region, this is the first recorded death of an oil field worker in Maverick County in recent history attributed to the Eagle Ford Shale.
Another recent tragic accident involving oil field workers was reported by the Texas Department of Public Safety on Friday October 24, 2014, north of Cotulla, Texas, off of Highway 97 at the Washburn Ranch, 86 miles from Eagle Pass, where five Eagle Ford Shale oil drilling rig workers were severely injured. According to Texas Department of Public Safety initial reports, employees working on the oil rig hit a gas pocket which came to the surface and exploded, injuring the five employees with severe burns from the explosion. The victims were airlifted by helicopter to San Antonio area hospitals for treatment of their burns and injuries. Highway 97 was shut down due to this incident. The oil rig fire happened in La Salle County, Texas.
Oil and gas drilling accidents continue to be a cause of concern, especially in the State of Texas which accounts for almost 40% of oil field-related fatalities nantionwide.
Reports show that Texas in 2012 had multiple injuries and accidents to oil field workers, including 92 burn victims, 79 people lost limbs, 82 people were crushed, 675 people suffered broken bones, and 65 people died in oil-field related work accidents.
When the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) did investigate rig sites, it found that 78% of Texas oil-field accidents could have been prevented with safer equipment or the implementation of safety procedures.
OSHA is an agency of the United States Department of Labor and is in charge of setting and enforcing safety standards for numerous employment sectors including the oil and gas industry.
Although OSHA examines oil rig accident sites, it does not have any specific safety regulatory standards for the oil and gas fields.
There are only 95 OSHA inspectors to oversee and enforce compliance of safety rules in the entire State of Texas.
A report studying oil field-related accidents found that the federal government has failed to implement certain safety standards for over 20 years, which in turn, has resulted in a large number of injuries and fatalities among oil and gas drilling workers within the State of Texa
.Another oil drilling rig accident this year occurred on April 30, 2014 in Mentone, Texas, killing two people and injured another nine individuals as a buildup of pressure in heavy machinery being used to change a wellhead exploded.
Mentone, Texas is in Loving County in a sparsely populated community with almost 90 residents near the Texas-New Mexico border, which has seen significant oil and gas drilling exploration in recent years.
Back in May 2008, five oil field workers were injured in a Carrizo Springs, Texas oil rig explosion as they struck a pocket of gas much like the incident that occurred on October 24, 2014 near Cotulla, Texas.
Texas leads the United States in oil and gas drilling accidents.
