Working abroad can be fun, but it can also be dangerous. No matter how many safety precautions you take, accidents and injuries are common — and sometimes fatal. Offshore workers can suffer serious injuries caused by hazardous conditions on offshore platforms, crewed vessels, jack-up rigs, and tankers, and at sea itself. Workers are often inadequately trained and work long hours with little rest, making the risk of injury even higher.
When serious injury occurs in an offshore accident, it can be emotionally and financially devastating for the victim. It can also be difficult to determine where to start to recover damage from personal injury or unnatural death. A good place to start is contacting an offshore accident attorney with experience in personal injury and maritime law who can handle the complex details of your case and help you get the best possible recovery.
Common Causes of Offshore Accidents
Offshore and oilfield accidents are often preventable. They can occur during basket transfers, line handling, ship collisions, and diving operations. Many of the same accidents you encounter in many workplaces, such as equipment failure and slips and falls. But because working offshore is a more high-risk workplace environment, injuries can also result from fire or explosion.
Despite the huge budgets associated with the oil industry, there is sometimes very little training and supervision on the oil rigs. This type of employer negligence can result in an unsafe work environment that causes unqualified employees to perform hazardous tasks that are not properly trained, resulting in serious injury.
Offshore accidents usually result in head trauma, spinal cord injuries, severed limbs, and other serious injuries. These injuries are often specifically caused by:
- Oil rig injury. Workers on oil rigs use cumbersome and cumbersome equipment to drill and perform other tasks. Many workers are not properly trained on how to use the required equipment, which increases the risk of offshore accidents caused by human error.
- Deck crash. The oil rig deck can be a chaotic environment where frenzied workers must be constantly on the lookout. Workers are surrounded by tripping hazards, fall hazards, electrical hazards, run over hazards and pinch point hazards. They can easily be hit by heavy equipment, slip on wet surfaces, or fall when the sudden shock of the ship causes them to lose their balance.
- Equipment failure. When equipment on an offshore vessel fails, it can result in a number of serious injuries. Workers can be burned or electrocuted, run over, and even lose limbs. Operating machinery on an oil rig requires a high level of care to prevent injury.
- Fire and explosion. Although uncommon, fires and explosions are some of the deadliest causes of offshore accidents. They can occur as a result of improper fuel storage, poorly maintained pipelines, or collisions between ships. In the event of a fire, workers may have to jump from the rig into the sea — often from a height of at least 100 feet. Although workers are usually trained in the correct way to jump, the stress of the situation can result in a jump causing severe injury or drowning. Accidents caused by fire and injuries can result in life-changing injuries and even the loss of the entire ship (and the people on board).
- Another ship. Injuries are also common on tugs and barges. This includes overboard falls, tow line splits, and heavy line handling. If helicopters are used to transport workers off the coast, there is a risk of injury from a helicopter crash.
When you've had any kind of offshore accident, whatever the cause, it can be both physical and emotional. You may find yourself trying to recover from your injury while figuring out how to deal with the loss of a regular and substantial salary that supports your family. Our offshore accident attorneys in Austin, Texas, are here to help you determine the cause of your accident and the best way to recover your finances.
Damage in the event of an Offshore Accident
Offshore accidents can destroy you and your family. You may have an injury that requires extensive and ongoing medical attention and rehabilitation, leading to medical bills that seem to keep piling up. Or a family may have a fatal accident that causes endless pain and suffering. When you also lose your main source of income, you may feel like you will never find relief.
An offshore accident attorney can help you determine the amount of damage you may be able to recover and negotiate on your behalf to ensure you get the best possible recovery. Depending on your case, you may be eligible for damages that cover lost wages, medical expenses, disability, emotional trauma, and pain and suffering.
Your attorney will ensure you have all the necessary medical records and documentation to prove the actual costs associated with your injury. They will also indicate whether when the time is right for you (both now and in the future) to affect you financially, and hold third parties accountable for their negligence.
What Factors Could Affect Your Offshore Accident Case?
Offshore accident cases can be tricky. You must determine who you can legally claim, how workers' compensation affects your claim, how much insurance coverage is available, and in which jurisdiction you can file a lawsuit. There are various factors that can affect your case, especially when you seek to demonstrate negligence on the part of the employer, including the following:
Offshore accident cases can be tricky. You must determine who you can legally claim against, how workers' compensation affects your claim, how much insurance coverage is available, and in which jurisdiction you can file a lawsuit. There are various factors that can affect your case, especially when you seek to demonstrate negligence on the part of the employer, including the following:
- The amount of risk taken. Working offshore and in the oil fields carries a very high level of risk. The steps you may need to take to get oil and gas off the ground may not even be permitted in many other industries. But because of how lucrative the payoff is when you reach the bag of oil or gas, you may feel pressured by your boss or other employees to engage in unsafe practices or take greater risks to get your job done. These practices occur frequently. However, to reduce the perception of their negligence, your boss may try to demonstrate that you should not engage in such high-risk behavior.
- Lack of supervision. Often there is no technical oversight on the rigs, meaning equipment and structures are temporary and assembled by people learning from experience rather than formal training. When you do things like drill or run high pressure fracking lines quickly without technical guidance, accidents are bound to happen.
- Inadequate training. Employees often use machines on oil rigs without any training, which can result in injury. They may also perform tasks that are far beyond their regular duties, such as acting as firefighters, which can also put all other employees at risk.
- Lack of sleep. The average offshore worker works at least 12 hours a day for weeks — and often wakes up in the middle of the night to receive or unload ships. Even when there is a night crew, there may be a need for additional crew on deck. Because of the huge profits that may be lost if there is a delay, many employers want employees to work as quickly and as far as possible, which often means less sleep and more room for error.
- How much insurance will be paid. Most oil companies insure themselves up to a point. After that, they asked the insurance company to pay the rest. Insurance companies may try to adjust their claims portion or make sure the oil companies try to settle claims fairly so they don't have to pay money.
- Oil companies often cut corners when it comes to operating oil rigs because it can be cheaper than making sure employees are properly trained to do things the right way. While this may be standard in the industry, it can lead to many preventable injuries.
How Offshore Accident Lawyers Can Help
As a tactic to avoid paying damages, employers usually deny that they are responsible for any injury to their employees on offshore rigs or oil fields. Instead, they usually attempt to pay their employees money and claim that their own actions caused the offshore accident. They may claim that the employee has the right to speak up and stop the entire rig in its tracks if they see something unsafe or need more time to sleep. Some employers may even try to retaliate against employees who bring suits by making it harder for them to find other work in the industry.
Because of all this, it can be difficult to decide whether you want to file a lawsuit, especially if you fear being blamed for an offshore accident or being blacklisted for the industry. An offshore accident attorney will help ensure that this doesn't happen and the facts of your injury come to light. An attorney experienced in offshore accidents knows how to detect these types of tactics and ensure evidence is not skewed to match the employer's version of events. They can also help you gather offshore accident witnesses and get statements that show your side of the story.
Offshore accident attorneys are also very familiar with maritime law, which was created to help protect workers in the event of injury, accident, and illness. Maritime law only protects people working overseas, and special requirements must be met to recover in action under the law. Experienced attorneys will know how to make maritime law, and other applicable laws, to your liking.
Why Hire an FVF to Help Your Offshore Accident Case?
Our experienced offshore accident attorneys at FVF are here to help you get your life back on track after an unnatural injury or death on an oil rig. We have tried these types of injuries around Texas and travel frequently around the state to sue offshore accident claims. We work tirelessly to advocate for you, interview witnesses, consult offshore and medical experts, and carry out the necessary investigations into your injury.
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