Moving oil and gas from a field to a vessel involves several different operations. An injury at a refinery, terminal, pipeline facility, or equipment yard should be investigated through the work being performed there. Calling every incident an oilfield accident can obscure the responsible parties and the evidence that matters.
VB Attorneys represents people with catastrophic injuries and families facing wrongful death in Corpus Christi and the Coastal Bend. This page addresses serious injuries in shore-based oil and gas operations, including contractor work, industrial equipment movement, and refinery or terminal incidents.
The Corpus Christi port system connects industrial facilities with marine transportation. That setting makes a precise description especially important. A vessel crew injury may require a different legal approach from an injury to a contractor performing work ashore.
Identify the point where the work changed hands
Industrial operations often involve a handoff. One crew prepares equipment, another performs the maintenance, and another authorizes its return to service. A delivery may move from a driver’s control to the direction of a receiving facility.
After a serious injury, establish who was responsible at the point where the event occurred. What task had been assigned? What condition had been communicated? Who controlled the next step? A contract may describe responsibilities, while permits, shift records, and witness accounts show what happened during the actual work.
The investigation should be narrow enough to test a specific explanation and broad enough to identify another when the evidence points elsewhere. The fact that an incident occurred on company property does not settle which company caused it.
Examine permits and operating records together
For work involving pressure, stored energy, or an operating process, potentially useful records may include the permit, isolation procedure, operating information, maintenance history, and communications about shutdown or restart. The exact documents depend on the facility and task.
A signed permit should be compared with the operation it authorized. Did it cover the work actually done? Were conditions changed after it was issued? What information was available to the people making decisions? These are questions to investigate, not a presumption that the permit was defective.
For a dropped load or crush injury, equipment condition, rigging, positioning, and communication may matter. An inspection should preserve enough information to distinguish a problem with equipment from a problem in how otherwise functioning equipment was used.
Our industrial injury practice addresses this kind of factual work. The aim is to establish a supported account of responsibility rather than rely on the seriousness of the outcome as proof of negligence.
Contractor claims require careful legal analysis
The injured person’s employer, the property owner, and a separate contractor can occupy different legal positions. A third-party claim requires examination of a company’s duty and the connection between its conduct and the harm.
Texas Chapter 95 can limit a property owner’s liability for certain contractor injuries involving improvements to real property. When the statute applies, its requirements concerning control and actual knowledge must be addressed. An allegation that the property was unsafe, without the necessary evidence, may not be enough.
Employment benefits and a claim against a separate negligent party are also different matters. The available approach depends on the employment arrangement and the conduct of the parties. VB Attorneys evaluates serious injury and wrongful death claims; the legal category should follow those facts.
Separate shore-based and vessel work
A person may describe the location as the port even though the legally important event occurred on a road, a dock, an industrial site, or a vessel. Record that location precisely, including the stage of the assignment.
For a seaman injured aboard a vessel, the Jones Act and other maritime rights may matter. Not everyone working near a vessel qualifies as a seaman. Duties and the nature and duration of the vessel connection must be examined.
This distinction is why we ask about the job and the operation before describing the claim. Serious injury practice, industrial work, and maritime work can intersect without becoming interchangeable.
Put the long-term consequences into evidence
A worker with extensive burns, an amputation, a brain injury, or lasting spinal damage may face treatment and work questions that are not resolved at discharge. The case should develop evidence of those consequences as the medical picture becomes clearer.
What parts of the job can the person still perform? What restrictions have the treating professionals identified? What assistance or equipment is supported? Which costs are recurring, and what assumptions underlie the estimate? The answers give a family a firmer basis for evaluating a Settlement.
The same care is necessary in a wrongful death case. The family relationships, supported financial losses, and any separate survival claim must be addressed accurately. A general description of a fatal industrial accident cannot substitute for the circumstances of the person who died.
Tell us what happened
Brian Beckcom and Vuk Vujasinovic are both Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Our oilfield injury practice is part of a broader practice focused on catastrophic harm.
Call (877) 724-7800 for a free first conversation about a serious oil and gas injury in Corpus Christi or the Coastal Bend. Tell us what happened. We will give you a straight answer about whether we can help.