Lessons Learned From An Oil Field Accident Individual Injury Attorney1582584
A couple of years ago I had a family member working on an oil rig in the Midland / Odessa region of Texas. It was hard work that integrated long days with couple of visits back to go to his family members. One fateful afternoon we received a telephone call telling us about an injury that occurred on the drilling rig that integrated our family member. This set into motion a chain of events that seemed to happen all by themselves with out our control. Searching back now, I learned fairly a bit from the encounter and the importance of hiring a personal injury lawyer to help guide us via this attempting time. I hope you can benefit from my encounter.
The contact came in on a Friday afternoon. Kevin had been working out on an oil field about a two hour drive from our hometown of Abilene, TX. The region he was working in was a vast expanse of absolutely nothing but dirt, dust, sand, and oil derricks. It is really a god forsaken area that you'd rather not even have to pass via let alone function day in and day out in that one hundred degree + heat.
The procedure of drilling for oil consists of the use of a drilling rig that spins a pipe fitted with a drill bit, deep into the earth. The whole procedure is fraught with danger. Every thing you work with tends to be strong steel and is measured not in the hundreds but thousands of pounds. The normal typical daily person doesn't have to be as well concerned about such weights. They only ever have problems with such heavy weights when it comes to vehicle accidents. But in the drilling globe, you have 1,600 lbs pipes lifted more than your head and swaying in the wind all day lengthy.
Some how Kevin, recognized to us as 'Big Daddy', was operating on the oil drilling rig platform and in the process of lifting a section of that heavy steel pipe up into the air to spin into place on top of the pipe section beneath it. It's a process that is repeated all day long. As this pipe was becoming moved, it slipped in the chains holding it up and crushed him. He was hurt poor enough he needed to be air lifted to a regional hospital where they are much more equipped to handle such injuries. We had been told we required to get there and we did.
A couple of hours of frantic driving later and we had been at his bedside surveying the damage and trying to procedure what had just occurred. A few members of his drilling crew were there attempting to clarify what had occurred to make better sense of it all. A representative of the oil drilling company was there too, ensuring us that everything would be OK and they would handle every thing. Issues did not quite go as smooth as they stated it would.
What I discovered, from my lawyer, though this occasion I found there are 5 actions that completely need to be taken instantly following an oil field accident.
- The job site supervisor needs to be notified instantly following the accident. 911 needs to be called and family requirements to be contacted. - Healthcare interest requirements to be given as soon as possible - Everything that has occurred requirements to be documented. Pictures require to be taken from multiple angles to show what has occurred. - Witness contact info requirements to be written down. Who saw what occurred. How can you get into contact with them? Names, phone numbers, addresses, etc. - You need to call your lawyer.
I am now extremely thankful we had been put in touch with a personal injury lawyer in my hometown of Abilene, Texas who was in a position to walk us via this procedure. She ended up obtaining the primary oil drilling company along with the sub-contractor to set up a fund to spend for Kevin's medical expenses and future lost earnings.
