Undefeated Oil Rig Explosion Lawyers
If you’ve been injured in an oil rig explosion in Texas, it’s time to call Zehl & Associates Injury & Accident Lawyers. As an oil rig worker, you have rights, including the opportunity to seek compensation for your medical bills and financial losses. Our undefeated oil rig explosion lawyers can help you make the most of a difficult situation.
Since 2006, Zehl & Associates has been a fierce advocate for injured offshore oil workers and devastated families. We’re recognized leaders in personal injury litigation with an unbeaten track record. Putting decades of experience behind every case, we’ve helped our clients win billions in life-changing monetary awards.
Don’t struggle with the consequences of an oil rig explosion on your own. Let our top-rated legal team help you demand the accountability you deserve. Contact our law office in Houston, TX, at (888) 603-3636 to arrange a time for your free case evaluation.
Table of Contents
- How Zehl & Associates Can Help After an Oil Rig Explosion
- Oil Rig Explosion Statistics
- What Causes Most Oil Rig Explosions?
- How Do I Recover Compensation After an Oil Rig Explosion in Texas?
- What Damages Can I Recover If I’ve Been Injured in a Oil Rig Explosion?
- Common Oil Rig Explosion Injuries
- How Long Do I Have to Seek Compensation After a Texas Oil Rig Explosion?
- Schedule a Free Consultation With an Undefeated Oil Rig Explosion Lawyer
How Zehl & Associates Can Help After an Oil Rig Explosion
You put your safety on the line every time you step onto an oil rig off the coast of Houston. But after an accident or explosion, the company you work for will unfortunately NOT have your best interest in mind. No matter what the company or their lawyers tell you, their top priority will always be to protect their bottom line and pay you as little as possible for your injuries and losses.
With your future at stake, it’s important to know that you are protected by state and/or federal law, and you deserve to have those legal rights protected by the best oil rig explosion lawyers in Texas — a team with a track record of landmark settlements and verdicts on behalf of injured oil and gas workers.
At Zehl & Associates, we understand that you have one opportunity to recover compensation for your injuries and losses. As undefeated Texas trial attorneys, we have the resources and experience to not only win, but ensure that you and your family receive the maximum compensation possible and the best medical care available for all your injuries and damages..
We’ve already recovered Billions for oil workers, including record-breaking awards, such as:
- $90 Million settlement for oil well explosion victim
- $85.7 Million settlement for a worker injured at a refinery
- $62 Million settlement for injured oilfield worker
- $55 Million settlement for oilfield burn victims
- $30 Million settlement for injured offshore worker
Contact our law office in Houston, TX, to find out how we can stand up, fight, and win for you. Your first consultation is free.
Oil Rig Explosion Statistics
The oil industry in Texas is booming. In 2022, Texas produced more than 1.8 billion barrels of crude oil through its extraction practices, which accounted for more than 42 percent of the nation’s total.
It takes a lot of people to extract so much oil from the earth. Not surprisingly, more than 480,176 people are employed by oil and gas industries in the state of Texas.
Unfortunately, many of these workers suffer serious injuries or die on the job. According to the CDC, at least 470 oil and gas workers were killed in job-related accidents between 2014 and 2019. Oil rig explosions accounted for 14 percent of these worker fatalities. If you work in oil or gas industries, you face a seven times greater risk of death than other types of workers.
What Causes Most Oil Rig Explosions?
Drilling for oil is dangerous. While the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the state of Texas have regulations in place to keep oil drilling operations as safe as possible, they sometimes fall short.
Explosions can – and do – happen on oil rigs in and around Texas.
Some of the most common causes include:
- Electrical fires
- Equipment malfunctions
- Pressure system malfunctions
- Blowouts
- Misinterpreting pressure test results
- Corrosion
- Flammable gasses ignited by uncontrolled fires
- Unsafe procedures
- Negligent hiring and training
- Inadequate rig maintenance
- Extreme weather conditions
Most oil rig accidents can be avoided when regulations and safety protocols are embraced. However, sometimes, oil rig companies, workers, or other parties cut corners to save time and money. The result – serious oil rig explosions that inflict debilitating, or even fatal, injuries.
How Do I Recover Compensation After an Oil Rig Explosion in Texas?
If you work on an oil rig in or near Texas, you will qualify for benefits under one or more worker protection laws, including:
- Texas Workers’ Compensation: Workers’ compensation is not mandatory for all employers in the state of Texas. However, you will qualify for benefits if you are an employee who suffers a work-related injury and your employer has opted into the workers’ compensation system.
- Texas Tort Law: If your employer is a non-subscriber, or if someone else’s negligence or wrongful actions caused your oil rig explosion, you reserve the right to file a personal injury lawsuit against them for damages.
- The Jones Act: The Jones Act allows injured oil rig workers and other maritime employees to sue their employer for maintenance and cure benefits. You must be able to prove that your employer’s negligence contributed to the oil rig explosion.
- The Longshore & Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act: The Longshore & Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) is a federal workers’ compensation program for individuals who work on navigable waters off the coast of the United States.
- The Death on the High Seas Act: The Death on the High Seas Act can help families recover compensation when a worker is killed at least 3 nautical miles outside of state waters.
It’s important to explore every potential avenue for recovering compensation after an oil rig explosion in Texas. Trust our oil rig accident attorneys to help you understand your rights and aggressively pursue the compensation you’re entitled to under state and/or federal law.
What Damages Can I Recover If I’ve Been Injured in a Oil Rig Explosion?
If you file a personal injury lawsuit after an oil rig explosion in Texas, you’ll have the opportunity to pursue compensatory damages.
Compensatory damages help you recover money for your verified financial losses (economic damages) and any trauma and suffering you experience (non-economic damages).
This can include:
- Current and future medical bills
- Disability
- Diminished earning capacity
- Lost wages and benefits
- Rehabilitation
- Nursing care
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Loss of consortium
- Disfigurement and physical scarring
- Inconvenience
- Reduced quality of life
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Embarrassment
- Chronic physical pain
Most oil rig explosion lawsuits settle. However, if yours goes to trial, you could also have the ability to seek punitive damages. In Texas, punitive damages are allowed when there is convincing evidence that a defendant acted intentionally or was grossly negligent.
Common Oil Rig Explosion Injuries
Explosions of any kind can be devastating. When an explosion happens on an oil rig around flammable gasses, the potential for catastrophe is high.
At Zehl & Associates Injury & Accident Lawyers, we advocate to help oil rig workers who have suffered:
- Burn injuries
- Concussion injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
- Amputation injuries
- Crushing injuries
- Back injuries
- Neck injuries
- Broken bones and fractures
- Nerve damage
- Eye injuries
- Vision or hearing loss
- Catastrophic injuries
- Wrongful death of a family member
Do not hesitate to seek emergency medical care after an oil rig explosion. The rush of adrenaline you get from such a catastrophic accident can make it hard to identify signs or symptoms of serious injuries. Getting checked out by a qualified medical professional will ensure your injuries are properly diagnosed and treated. Your visit will also generate a medical record that helps to demonstrate a link between the explosion and your injuries.
How Long Do I Have to Seek Compensation After a Texas Oil Rig Explosion?
You will have a limited time to formally pursue compensation if you’ve been injured or lost a family member because of an oil rig explosion.
The amount of time you have to act depends on how you pursue compensation.
- Personal injury lawsuit: two years from the date of the explosion
- Wrongful death lawsuit: two years from the date of the worker’s death
- Jones Act: three years from the date of your accident
- The Longshore & Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act: one year from the date of injury
- Texas workers’ compensation claim: one year from the date of injury (30 days notice to your employer)
You have to file your claim before the applicable deadline expires. Once the statute of limitations runs out, you will lose the right to demand compensation, benefits, or damages for your oil rig explosion injuries.
Schedule a Free Consultation With an Undefeated Oil Rig Explosion Lawyer
You shouldn’t have to struggle with the consequences of your injuries on your own. Having won Billions for victims of catastrophic offshore, oil rig, and oilfield accidents, our award-winning team has the resources, knowledge, and experience to stand up to the largest oil and gas companies in the world. Our oil rig explosion attorneys can help you fight for the full compensation you need and deserve.
If you’ve been injured or suffered the wrongful death of a family member in a oil rig explosion, call 1-888-603-3636 or click here to send us a confidential email through our Contact Form.
We’ll answer your questions, discuss your rights, and explain your options, so that you can make the best decision for you and your family.
All consultations are free and confidential, and you won’t owe us anything unless we win your case.