A contractor working at the ExxonMobil petrochemical complex in Beaumont, Texas, died tragically on Friday in what is being described as a “railcar accident.”
66-Year-Old PSC Group Contractor Pronounced Dead at Scene
Emergency crews were called to the ExxonMobil Beaumont Lubricant Blending and Packaging Plant, located in the 2700 block of Sycamore Street, shortly after midnight on October 28th.
The Jefferson County Sherriff’s Department later confirmed that a 66-year-old worker had been pronounced dead at the scene.
He was identified as a resident of Beaumont and an employee of PSC Group, a company that “provides product handling services, logistics, railcar repair, and sustainability solutions for the chemical, refining, and marine transportation industries” at facilities throughout the United States.
Federal Agencies Investigating ExxonMobil Railcar Accident
“We are deeply saddened to report the death of one of our employees, who was working at ExxonMobil’s Blending and Packaging Plant in Beaumont, Texas,” PSC Group said in a statement issued Friday evening.
“We express our deepest sympathy to the family and co-workers of the contractor who was fatally injured in a rail car incident at the Beaumont Blending and Packaging Plant,” an Exxon spokesperson told Reuters.
So far, it’s unclear what caused the railcar accident, but the National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Railroad Administration, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the incident. An autopsy has been scheduled to determine the exact cause of death.
About the ExxonMobil Beaumont Complex
The Beaumont Lubricant Blending and Packaging Plant is part of the 2,700-acre ExxonMobil petrochemical complex in Beaumont. In addition to Mobil 1 synthetic oil, the facility also manufactures and packages lube oil and greases, including those used in the wind turbine and aviation industry.
The ExxonMobil Beaumont complex also encompasses a 366,000-barrel-per-day crude oil refinery, a chemical plant, and a polyethylene plant. The complex employs more than 2,000 ExxonMobil workers, along with about 3,000 contractors.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time a worker has been seriously injured or killed at an ExxonMobil facility in Beaumont. The worst recent incident occurred in April 2013, when a fire at the ExxonMobil Beaumont refinery injured a dozen contractors, including seven who suffered severe burns. Two of those workers would later die as a result of their injuries.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) eventually fined ExxonMobil and two contract firms more than $67,000 for workplace safety violations in connection with the Beaumont refinery fire. More than six years later, ExxonMobil agreed to pay a $616,000 fine as part of a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in connection with that incident.
In December 2017, a 31-year-old single mother died after being struck by a pipe while working on a construction project at the ExxonMobil refinery in Beaumont. Another falling pipe tragically killed a 32-year-old contractor at the same facility in May 2016.
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