After a Serious Oilfield or Marine Terminal Injury: The First 72 Hours

After a serious workplace injury, get medical care, report what happened accurately, keep the records already available to you, and get help identifying evidence that could disappear. You do not need to know which company is responsible before asking for advice.

The first three days can feel crowded with decisions. A family may be dealing with surgery, missed work, a supervisor’s calls, unfamiliar insurance forms and an explanation of the accident that already sounds final.

Some decisions need attention immediately. Others become clearer when there is more information. The useful question is: What must we do now to protect the person and preserve the ability to make a sound decision later?

This guide is for workers and families facing serious injuries at oilfields, industrial facilities and marine terminals. “The first 72 hours” is a practical way to organize the work. It is not a legal deadline. If more time has passed, you can still seek help; your actual deadlines depend on the facts and applicable law.

Start with the person who was hurt

In an emergency, call 911 or activate the site’s emergency response. Follow emergency personnel’s instructions. Medical care comes before photographs, paperwork or a conversation about a claim.

Tell the treating professionals what happened, including any fire, blast, impact or possible chemical exposure. Describe what you actually experienced and what remains uncertain. Give them the exposure information you already have without returning to a dangerous area to obtain more. Follow the treatment and follow-up instructions they provide.

For the family, choose one person to help organize appointments, contact details, work notices and documents, with the injured person’s permission when possible. Keep a simple list of unanswered questions: Who is coordinating treatment? What paperwork is needed for benefits? Who should receive work restrictions? What expenses are accumulating?

Someone in a hospital bed should not have to carry every administrative task. The family’s first contribution can be creating a little order.

Report the facts without filling in the gaps

Notify the employer promptly and comply with applicable injury-reporting requirements. Read an incident report before signing it, correct inaccuracies and request a copy. If pain, medication or incomplete information prevents a reliable account, explain that limitation.

There is a difference between an observation and an explanation:

• “The chassis moved while he was underneath it” describes something a witness may have seen.
• “The brakes failed” is a conclusion that may require an inspection and records.
• “The driver caused it” assigns responsibility before the work arrangements have been examined.

Keep those distinctions in your notes. Identify what you personally saw, what someone else told you and what you do not know. If your recollection changes, explain why instead of silently replacing an earlier account. Ask witnesses to preserve their own recollections independently.

Truthful reporting is different from agreeing to an optional recorded interview with an insurer or signing a settlement release. Ask who is requesting the interview or document, whom they represent, what it is for and whether there is a deadline. Obtain advice before agreeing to a release or broad authorization you do not understand. Continue necessary medical and benefits paperwork; a blanket refusal to complete any forms can create problems of its own.

Preserve what is available; identify what needs to be requested

You can help preserve information without conducting the accident investigation yourself.

Save the original photographs, videos, messages and documents you lawfully possess. Keep full conversations and original files, not just selected screenshots. Make a backup. Avoid editing images, deleting relevant material or replacing a damaged phone before getting advice about preserving its contents.

Write down witness names and contact details you already know. Record the date, approximate time, location, equipment identifiers and company names you remember. A photograph already on your phone may show a unit number or company logo that you did not notice at the time.

Do not reenter a restricted or hazardous area, disturb machinery, collect contaminated equipment or access records you are not authorized to obtain. Tell counsel where relevant material may be located so preservation can be pursued safely and lawfully.

The following is an investigation checklist. It helps explain what to identify, not what an injured worker is expected to retrieve.

Electronic records can be overwritten through routine system operation. Equipment may need to be moved for safety or repaired for service. A lawyer should identify the specific evidence, its custodian and the preservation steps needed. A general request to “save everything” may miss the camera, contractor or device that matters most.

Preservation does not prove fault. It allows competing explanations to be examined fairly. The legal consequences of lost evidence depend on the circumstances; missing information does not automatically win or defeat a case. Federal Judicial Center: preserving electronic information.

Test the first explanation against the decisions made before the injury

An initial report may accurately describe the final movement: a spark ignited vapor, a vehicle moved, or a component released pressure. Understanding responsibility requires looking further back.

Four questions help organize that inquiry:

1. What danger was present, and what was known about it before work began?
2. What protection was supposed to keep that danger from reaching a person?
3. Who had the information and authority to put that protection in place?
4. What records can show whether it was actually in place?

OSHA’s investigation guidance encourages examination of underlying causes, including equipment, training, time and supervision, rather than ending the inquiry with worker error. That is an investigation principle, not a finding that any particular company is liable. OSHA: hazard identification and assessment.

Consider how that approach changes three familiar explanations.

“There was a hot-work permit”

A permit matters. Its existence does not answer whether its precautions were carried out for the actual job, at the actual time and place.

The Chemical Safety Board’s hot-work guidance addresses hazard assessment, atmospheric testing, surrounding tanks and spaces, written authorization, training and contractor supervision. Those subjects provide a starting point for examining the work. CSB: safe hot-work practices.

A useful comparison is between the permit, the work sequence and the testing record. Did the task change after authorization? Does the recorded test concern the right location? Were nearby operations introducing a hazard the permit did not address?

These questions do not assume the permit was deficient. They distinguish a documented precaution from a precaution demonstrated by evidence.

“It was only waste water”

The description on a load does not establish that it could not burn. OSHA’s oilfield waste-liquid bulletin describes flammability hazards during transportation and disposal, including a fire near Rosharon, Texas. It emphasizes understanding the material and communicating its hazards. OSHA: oilfield waste-liquid flammability bulletin.

An investigation should trace the information as well as the liquid: what the generator knew, what the carrier received and what the disposal facility was told. A missing handoff may matter as much as a damaged component. Whether it contributed to the injury must still be established.

“The mechanic should have stayed clear”

That statement leaves unanswered how the repair was supposed to be performed and how the work area was protected. OSHA’s chassis guidance addresses vehicle traffic, securing equipment, raised equipment, stored pressure and wheel servicing. OSHA: chassis work in marine terminals.

The investigation should reconstruct the assignment, the equipment’s condition, communications with operators and the arrangements for preventing movement. It should also examine the worker’s actions. Sound judgment requires following evidence even when it complicates the first theory.

Find out which legal protections fit the actual work

An oilfield, port or waterfront address does not by itself determine a worker’s legal rights.

Qualifying seamen may have a negligence claim against their employer under the Jones Act. Many longshore and harbor workers instead fall within the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act. Actual duties, location and vessel connection matter; the LHWCA excludes vessel crew members. Some offshore work involves additional federal coverage questions. U.S. Department of Labor: Longshore coverage and Jones Act distinctions.

For land-based work in Texas, identify the employer’s workers’ compensation coverage. Most private Texas employers can choose whether to carry that coverage, which affects the analysis. Texas Department of Insurance: employer workers’ compensation resources.

Benefits and potential claims against another company need separate examination. Being present at the site does not automatically make a company liable. Employer protections, vessel duties, property-owner defenses and the evidence connecting conduct to injury can all matter. For example, the LHWCA has specific rules governing employer exclusivity and vessel-negligence claims. 33 U.S.C. § 905.

Bring your work history, employer information, job assignment and any vessel names to the first legal conversation. Ask the lawyer to explain the applicable law and deadlines in plain English. Do not assume an employer’s report to a regulator also files your benefits claim or lawsuit.

Keep the individual’s future in view

An investigation may concern one explosion, but each injured person has a different recovery, livelihood and family situation.

VB Attorneys represented 43 workers following a plant explosion involving Enterprise Products and Turner Industries. A shared investigation can establish what happened, but each worker’s medical condition, work history and needs require separate attention. Read the VB case account.

Early questions about value should be met with an explanation of what is known and what still needs to be learned. Medical prognosis, ability to return to work, future care, available claims and evidence of responsibility may still be developing.

A confident number cannot substitute for that work. Ask what assumptions support an estimate and which new facts could change it.

What to bring to the first conversation

Bring what you have. Incomplete information should not prevent the conversation.

• The person: name, current treatment location and the best person to contact.
• The work: employer, actual duties, site or vessel, and other companies you remember.
• The event: date, approximate time, task and your own account of what happened.
• The records: copies of reports, messages, photographs and documents already in your possession.
• The immediate concern: interrupted treatment, unanswered benefits questions, pressure to sign, or evidence you believe may soon be changed or lost.

Ask the lawyer three things: What needs attention first? What evidence should be preserved, and from whom? What remains uncertain about the law or responsibility?

The quality of those answers tells you something about how the lawyer thinks. You should leave with a clearer understanding of the next decisions and who will handle them.

Questions families ask

We are past the first 72 hours. Is it too late?

Not necessarily. Three days is not the filing deadline established by this guide. Notice requirements, claim deadlines and exceptions vary. Get advice promptly about your facts rather than assuming you have either missed the deadline or have plenty of time.

The company says its investigation is underway. Should we wait?

Cooperate truthfully with applicable reporting requirements. Also ask who is investigating, what records are being preserved and whether anyone is addressing your individual benefits and legal deadlines. A company or regulatory investigation does not necessarily serve every purpose your family needs.

We do not have photographs or paperwork. Can we still call?

Yes. Explain what you remember and where records might exist. The purpose of the first conversation is to identify the next steps, including how information can be obtained.

Talk through the next decision

If you or someone in your family suffered an oilfield injury, industrial explosion injury or maritime injury, VB Attorneys offers a free initial consultation.

Tell us what happened, what you have been told and what concerns you most. You do not have to arrive with the cause figured out.

Contact VB Attorneys or call (877) 724-7800.