OSHA Investigates April Oil Explosion in North Dakota

Unfortunately, injuries like these are not uncommon in the oil industry. 

A recent death of a 29 year old man in North Dakota working at a business in an oil patch has the Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigating. The man was involved in an explosion at Youngquist Brothers Oil and Gas Shop on the morning of April 10. He was injured and immediately transported to nearby McKenzie County Hospital but had to be taken to the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis for burn treatment. Further information regarding the man’s injuries has not been released at this point.

Unfortunately, injuries like these are not uncommon in the oil industry or the North Dakota oil patch. Oil is a dangerous business to be in, and because North Dakota is in the middle of an oil boom, reports of injuries from oil patch explosions are increasingly common. Much of the progress North Dakota has been making since the discovery of the oil patch several years ago has been extremely exciting. Since 2007 job growth in the oil and gas industry has tripled. But the downside is that injuries have increased as well. The McKenzie County Hospital has seen emergency room visits increase from 100 to 400 per month and ambulance calls have increased 59% between 2006 and 2011.

This reflects the larger issues with the oil and gas industries. From 2003 to 2008 the annual fatality rate for workers in these industries was 29.1 deaths per 100,000 workers. This number is seven times the overall fatality rate for all U.S. workers. Just one oil well can involve 1,500 trips by tankers, semi trucks, and other standard pickups to move the chemicals, oil, water, and sand. All of the workers involved in the transport, extraction, and processing of gas and oil, means that there are more chances for injury and explosion. Explosion is not the only cause of injury, at least one third of the oil industry fatalities are related to motor vehicles.

Low injury rates are rewarded so workers are often encouraged to not report injuries. But if you are injured while working for an oil company, you should be entitled to workers’ compensation to pay for medical expenses and lost wages. In order to make sure that you get the maximum benefits to which you are entitled, contact an attorney who has experience handling land based oil rig explosion injury cases. There may be other parties that could be liable for an accident caused by faulty or improperly installed machinery, or other issues of negligence.

Personal Injury Lawyers

Although monetary compensation can never return a person’s health or erase the lasting effects of a catastrophic personal injury, it can alleviate many of the day-to-day problems confronted by personal injury victims and their families. Contact the Zevan and Davidson Law Firm for a free and private consultation concerning your oil rig explosion case by calling (314) 588-7200 today!