Workers who take jobs in the oil and gas industry know that there is a risk related to that choice. After all, workplace incidents in the oil and grass sector often make the news. Dangerous chemicals, fires and explosions make for dramatic news segments. They can also lead to serious worker injuries.
While such stories tend to produce exciting headlines, they are responsible for only a small portion of the incidents that injure or kill oil and gas professionals. Often, the scenarios that harm those employed in the oil and gas sector are the fault of members of the general public rather than the worker or their employer. According to an analysis of oil and gas fatalities in recent years, more than a quarter of work or deaths may relate to the actions of third parties.
Vehicle issues are a leading safety concern
According to data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Transportation incidents involving vehicles are the top cause of oil and gas worker deaths. Contact injuries are the second leading cause of worker deaths and are responsible for another 22% of the reported fatalities each year.
Roughly 27% of the reviewed fatalities involved an issue with transportation or a vehicle. Many of those incidents are the fault of another driver. Therefore, the surviving family members of the deceased worker may need to pursue a complex third-party claim against the motorist responsible for their tragedy.
There are likely also dozens of workers who get hurt in traffic incidents while on the job for every recorded fatality. Injured workers in the oil and gas sector may need to take legal action to hold a dangerous driver accountable for causing a collision.
A successful compensation claim could help replace a worker’s lost wages and pay for their medical expenses. The party who caused the crash might even be liable for the damage to the worker’s vehicle if they were in their own vehicle and not a truck owned by their employer.
Realizing that an outside party might be to blame for an oil and gas work injury can help those in need of financial compensation after an injurious work-related incident. A personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit could be a means of recovering the financial losses inspired by such circumstances.