UPDate: West Delta 32 EXPLOSION AND Fire: Another Confirmed Dead. 3 TOTAL DEAD WORKERS
Posted on Nov 30, 2012 1:14pm EST
The body of the missing Filipino worker, who disappeared after
the November 16 explosion on the West Delta 32 offshore oil platform, has been
recovered. This brings the accident's death toll up to three.
The body has been identified as 28-year-old Jerome Malagapo.
Dental records from the Philippines were used to help ID the man. The body was
discovered by workers on a supply ship, 2.5 miles off the coast of Grand Isle,
Louisiana.
In the wake of the accident, three workers remain hospitalized,
two of which are in critical condition. This accident has been deemed the
deadliest since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion which killed 11 and
resulted in the worst offshore oil spill in the history of the United States.
The West Delta 32 fire has been a hard hit on the Philippine
Embassy and country of Philippines as nine of the 22 workers on board the
platform were Filipino. The workers were employed by Grand Isle Shipyard Inc.
to refurbish the Black Elk platform.
Federal authorities continue to investigate the cause of the
accident in order to determine fault but the Philippine Embassy insists that
the injured/deceased Filipino workers were not the ones at fault.
The first fatality discovered was Ellroy Corporal, whose body
was found shortly after the accident. The second fatality was Avelino L.
Tajonera who died after sustaining serious burn injuries. Tajonera was one of
the two workers initially listed in critical condition.
Following the death of Tajonera, Black Elk issued the following
statement, "We continue to work in close cooperation with government
officials to understand exactly what happened in this incident." The body
of Malagapo was recovered three days after Tajonera passed away.
The Philippines ambassador said, "We are deeply saddened
to learn that we lost our kababayan, Jerome Malagapo… We console ourselves with
the thought that Jerome has been found and will be reunited with his loved
ones."
The victims of the blast were among an estimated 162 fitters,
scaffolders, riggers and welders that were hired in the Philippines to work on
offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. The survivors of the fire arrived back
in the Philippines last week. Philippine diplomats are coordinating with
employer D&R Resources, the hospitals and Grand Isle Shipyard Inc. to
provide these survivors with the care they need.
________________________________________________________________________
NO, LA, USA. Worker killed, 3 others injured in Gulf of Mexico
oil platform blast
NEW ORLEANS -- One person was killed and three others hurt in
an explosion Thursday on an offshore oil and gas platform in the Gulf of
Mexico.
A spokeswoman for Houston-based Fieldwood Energy said the
explosion happened just before 3 p.m. at the West Delta 105 "E"
facility, located about 12 miles off Louisiana's coast.
"One employee of a contractor was fatally injured and a
second contractor employee was seriously injured," Shannon Savoy said in a
statement. "We have accounted for all other personnel who were working at
the facility."
The conditions of the other two people who were hurt was not
immediately known.
Location is seen of oil platform explosion off Louisiana on
November 20, 2014
WWL-TV
Savoy called the explosion an "isolated incident that has
been fully contained. The facility was not damaged and there was no pollution
that resulted from the incident."
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said
in a statement that the platform was not in production at the time of the
explosion.
Bureau spokeswoman Chauntra Rideaux said the agency was working
with the U.S. Coast Guard on the response and would be investigati.
The explosion occurred about two months after a contractor was
killed and two others hurt during maintenance work in September on a Chevron
natural gas pipeline, also off the Louisiana coast. The cause of that incident
remains under investigation.
NEW ORLEANS — The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental
Enforcement responded Thursday to an explosion at a drilling platform in the
Gulf of Mexico, approximately 12 miles off the coast of New Orleans, that
killed one person and injured three others, said Chauntra Rideaux, a
spokeswoman for the bureau.
The offshore oil and gas operator, Fieldwood Energy, reported
the explosion on its Echo Platform just before 3 p.m. Thursday, Rideaux said in
a news release sent out about 8 p.m.
The bureau is a part of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Fieldwood Energy said one person was killed and three others
were being treated at an onshore medical facility as a result of the explosion,
she said.
The person killed and one of the people injured were private
contractors, company spokeswoman Shannon Savoy said in an email statement.
“We have accounted for all other personnel who were working at
the facility. This was an isolated incident that has been fully contained,” she
said.
The Echo Platform was not in production at the time of the
incident, she said. The facility’s damage was limited to the explosion area and
there was no pollution reported, she said.
The U.S. Coast Guard provided a fly-over of the platform to
assess damage, but did not provide further assistance, an agency spokesman said
Thursday night.
The bureau is coordinating the response with the U.S. Coast
Guard, and the bureau will investigate the incident, Rideaux said.
Fieldwood is a Houston-based portfolio company of Riverstone
Holdings LLC, according to the company website.
It was founded in December 2012 and has amassed the largest
drilling asset base in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the website. Fieldwood
mainly does shallow-water drilling.
Matt McCarroll, the company’s president and CEO, is an LSU
graduate and Baton Rouge native, according to the Fieldwood website.
Fieldwood is working with emergency responders, Savoy said in
the statement.
“In the interim, our thoughts and prayers are with the families
of the deceased and injured contractor employees,” she said.
_________________________________________________________
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) Responds to Explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that Killed 1 Worker and Injured 3 Others
11/20/2014
NEW ORLEANS- The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement
(BSEE) is responding to an explosion at West Delta 105 in the Gulf of Mexico,
approximately 12 miles off the coast of New Orleans. The offshore oil and gas
operator, Fieldwood Energy, reported the explosion on its Echo Platform just
before 3pm this afternoon.
The operator has reported that there is one fatality and three
others being treated at an onshore medical facility as a result of the
incident. The Echo Platform was not in production at the time of the incident.
The facility damage was limited to the explosion area and there was no
pollution reported.
BSEE is coordinating with the U.S. Coast Guard during the
response. BSEE will investigate the incident. More information will be provided
as it becomes available.
Media Inquiries: Chauntra Rideaux, 504-731-7847
____________________________________________________________
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Responding to
Explosion in Gulf of Mexico
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) is
responding to an explosion at West Delta 105 in the Gulf of Mexico,
approximately 12 miles off the coast of New Orleans. The offshore oil and gas
operator, Fieldwood Energy, reported the explosion on its Echo Platform just
before 3pm this afternoon.
The operator has reported that there is one fatality and three others being treated at an onshore medical facility as a result of the incident. The Echo Platform was not in production at the time of the incident. The facility damage was limited to the explosion area and there was no pollution reported.
BSEE is coordinating with the U.S. Coast Guard during the response. BSEE will investigate the incident. More information will be provided as it becomes available.
The operator has reported that there is one fatality and three others being treated at an onshore medical facility as a result of the incident. The Echo Platform was not in production at the time of the incident. The facility damage was limited to the explosion area and there was no pollution reported.
BSEE is coordinating with the U.S. Coast Guard during the response. BSEE will investigate the incident. More information will be provided as it becomes available.
LOUISIANA
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) Responds to Explosion in
the Gulf of Mexico that Killed 1 Worker and Injured 3 Others
11/20/2014
NEW ORLEANS- The Bureau of Safety and
Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) is responding to an explosion at West Delta
105 in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 12 miles off the coast of New Orleans.
The offshore oil and gas operator, Fieldwood Energy, reported the explosion on
its Echo Platform just before 3pm this afternoon.
The operator has reported that there is
one fatality and three others being treated at an onshore medical facility as a
result of the incident. The Echo Platform was not in production at the time of
the incident. The facility damage was limited to the explosion area and there
was no pollution reported.
BSEE is coordinating with the U.S. Coast Guard during the
response. BSEE will investigate the incident. More information will be provided
as it becomes available.
A team of BSEE engineers, inspectors and investigators are
currently on the facility conducting an incident investigation. Through the
course of the investigation, the BSEE investigation team will interview
witnesses and analyze evidence to determine the cause of the explosion.
Media Inquiries: Chauntra Rideaux,
504-731-7847
The offshore oil and gas operator,
Fieldwood Energy, reported the explosion on its Echo Platform just before 3
p.m. Thursday, Rideaux said in a news release sent out about 8 p.m.
The bureau is a part of the U.S.
Department of the Interior.
Fieldwood Energy said one person was
killed and three others were being treated at an onshore medical facility as a
result of the explosion, she said.
The person killed and one of the people
injured were private contractors, company spokeswoman Shannon Savoy said in an
email statement.
“We have accounted for all other
personnel who were working at the facility. This was an isolated incident that
has been fully contained,” she said.
The Echo Platform was not in production
at the time of the incident, she said. The facility’s damage was limited to the
explosion area and there was no pollution reported, she said.
The U.S. Coast Guard provided a
fly-over of the platform to assess damage, but did not provide further
assistance, an agency spokesman said Thursday night.
The bureau is coordinating the response
with the U.S. Coast Guard, and the bureau will investigate the incident,
Rideaux said.
Fieldwood is a Houston-based portfolio
company of Riverstone Holdings LLC, according to the company website.
It was founded in December 2012 and has
amassed the largest drilling asset base in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the
website. Fieldwood mainly does shallow-water drilling.
Matt McCarroll, the company’s president
and CEO, is an LSU graduate and Baton Rouge native, according to the Fieldwood
website.
Fieldwood is working with emergency
responders, Savoy said in the statement.
“In the interim, our thoughts and
prayers are with the families of the deceased and injured contractor
employees,” she said.
________________________________________________________________
Fieldwood Energy LLC Press Release re West Delta 105
"E" Deadly Incident that Killed a Worker and Injured 3--November 21,
2014; 10:00 a.m. central
At Fieldwood Energy, our top priority is the safety of our
employees and contractors. We regret that yesterday afternoon there was an
incident at our West Delta 105 "E" platform that occurred when
employees of Turnkey Cleaning Services were cleaning a heater treater, which is
a piece of equipment that separates oil from water and other liquids. Turnkey
Cleaning Services is a Louisiana based industrial cleaning service company that
specializes in the cleaning of offshore facilities, including the cleaning of
heater treaters.
During the cleaning process, one Turnkey employee was fatally
injured and a second suffered visible injuries. The Turnkey employee who
suffered visible injuries was immediately flown to West Jefferson Hospital for evaluation
and treatment. Two other individuals who were on the platform complained of
ringing in their ears, so they also were flown to the same hospital to be
evaluated. All three of these individuals have been evaluated and released from
the hospital. All other personnel on the platform have been accounted for and
are safe.
The West Delta 105 "E" platform has not been
producing oil or gas for over a week, as the facility was undergoing routine
maintenance operations when the incident occurred. There were no wells that
were producing at the time of the incident. The explosion that was mentioned in
the initial reports was not a well explosion or well blowout. Instead, it was
an isolated pressure event that occurred inside the heater treater and did not
result in a fire on the platform. This incident was not related to a drilling
operation but, instead, occurred during maintenance operations at the platform.
There was no oil spill or pollution that resulted from this incident and it was
contained immediately after it occurred with no damage to the environment, the
platform, or the platform�s
wells.
We do not have additional details at this point. We are working
hand in hand with BSEE, the Coast Guard, and Turnkey Cleaning Services to
investigate this incident fully. We will post additional information on our
company website as we learn more details. Our thoughts and prayers continue to
be with the family of the deceased Turnkey Cleaning Services employee.
Exploration and Production
Heater Treaters
Heated Separation Process
The operating conditions in the heater treater must be
adequately monitored to ensure operational productivity and safety. If
increases or decreases in temperature or pressure are reported, operators can
take the appropriate steps to return the vessel to an optimal operating range.
VEGA products help to verify the quality of the product output from the heater
treater, as well as protect the safety of nearby workers.
VEGABAR 52, Pressure Monitoring
▪ Dry CERTEC cell is resistant to temperature and pressure
shocks, resulting in continuous measurement accuracy
shocks, resulting in continuous measurement accuracy
▪ Self-monitoring cell indicates if a maintenance need is
detected before a failure happens, eliminating a potential
safety risk
detected before a failure happens, eliminating a potential
safety risk
▪ Measuring cell equipped with a temperature sensor,
increasing the operator’s insight into the process with just
one instrument
increasing the operator’s insight into the process with just
one instrument
VEGASWING 61, High Level Switching
▪ Vibrating point switch provides high level detection of
the
product for overfill protection, promoting work safety
product for overfill protection, promoting work safety
▪ Connection options mount easily for fast installation
▪ Construction materials are resistant to the pressure and
temperature in the process, eliminating replacement
requirements
temperature in the process, eliminating replacement
requirements
___________________________________________________
Worker in deadly Gulf blast was
cleaning equipment
Posted: Friday, November 21, 2014 2:46 pm
| Updated: 5:02 pm, Fri Nov 21, 2014.
Associated Press |
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A worker killed in an offshore explosion was
cleaning a piece of equipment during routine maintenance at its oil-and-gas
platform in the Gulf of Mexico, the company that runs the platform said Friday.
Houston-based Fieldwood Energy LLC said another worker suffered
"visible injury" and two others reported ringing in their ears after
the explosion, which was reported just before 3 p.m. Thursday. The company said
the three injured workers have been released from the hospital.
Fieldwood said the worker who was killed Thursday was cleaning
a piece of equipment that separates oil from water liquids when an
"isolated pressure event" occurred. The company said the victim and
the other worker with visible injuries were employed by Turnkey Cleaning
Services, a Louisiana company specializing in cleaning offshore facilities.
Turnkey declined to provide details about the incident and its
workers. Fieldwood did not disclose the names of the workers.
The explosion happened on the Echo Platform, about 12 miles
offshore near the mouth of the Mississippi River.
Federal regulators were on the platform Friday to investigate,
said Chauntra Rideaux, a spokeswoman with the Bureau of Safety and
Environmental Enforcement.
Fieldwood said the platform had not been producing oil or gas
for over a week. The company added that the incident did not involve a well
explosion or blowout but rather a piece of equipment called a heater treater.
The company said the incident did not cause a fire on the platform nor any
pollution.
"Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the family
of the deceased Turnkey Cleaning Services employee," Fieldwood said in a
statement.
The explosion occurred about two months after a contractor was
killed and two others hurt during maintenance work in September on a Chevron
natural gas pipeline, also off the Louisiana coast. The cause remains under
investigation.
________________________________________________________
November
21, 2014 at 11:14 am Jennifer A. Dlouhy in Accidents, featured,
(Dado Galdieri/Bloomberg)
WASHINGTON — The explosion at an offshore oil platform that
killed one worker and injured three others Thursday happened during maintenance
work at the site, according to new details disclosed Friday.
Although it is not clear precisely what triggered the blast at the platform 12 miles from
the Louisiana coast, Houston-based Fieldwood Energy said
contractors with Turnkey Cleaning Services were cleaning a heater treater at
the time of the incident. Heater treaters are designed to separate oil from
water and other materials.
Oil and gas was not flowing at the time, with production having
been halted more than a week ago to allow for the maintenance work.
Fieldwood Energy stressed that the incident was “an isolated pressure
event that occurred inside the heater treater and did not result in a fire on
the platform.”
“There was no oil spill or pollution that resulted from this
incident and it was contained immediately after it occurred with no damage to
the environment, the platform or the platform’s wells,” the company added.
The fatal explosion came nearly six months after federal
drilling regulators warned that the facility had failed to maintain all
equipment in a safe condition so as to ensure the protection of the lease and
associated facilities.
A team of engineers, inspectors and investigators with the
safety bureau flew to the site Friday to probe what happened. Fieldwood also
said it was working with the safety bureau, Coast Guard and Turnkey Cleaning
Services to fully investigate the incident.
The identity of the deceased Turnkey worker has not been
disclosed. According to Fieldwood, three other workers — including one with
visible injuries and two with ringing ears — were treated at West Jefferson
Hospital and released.
Unlike other recent offshore accidents, the injured workers
were not Filipino, according to the Philippine Embassy.
The incident, coming roughly two months after a contractor was killed during
maintenance work at an offshore natural gas pipeline,
illustrates anew the dangers posed to the massive workforce that cleans and
maintains oil and gas facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.
Anne Rolfes, founding director of the environmental group
Louisiana Bucket Brigade, said the industry has “an accident problem” that puts
workers in harm’s way, including some that clean and maintain offshore oil
facilities.
“That is not a glamorous job,” she said. “These people are at
the lowest rung you can get in the industry and they are the ones who are
bearing the risk.”
But Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser warned against
a rush to regulate in response to the incident. He has spoken out against a
Louisiana levee board’s lawsuit against 97 oil and gas companies that blames
them for coastal wetland erosion.
“Any incident is horrible, and whenever we have one, we want to
tighten the screws,” he said. But, he argued, “the oil industry does a great
job in training their personnel.”
“It’s a relatively safe place to work, when you look at the
amount of men and platforms and transportation back and forth — and you look at
the minimal accidents they do have, even though they’re magnified when they
happen,” he added.
Turnkey is a Louisiana-based industrial cleaning service
company that focuses on facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. The company, which
declined to say more about the incident Friday, notes on its website that it
has had zero accidents or lost time incidents in the past five years.
Fieldwood’s facility is located in about 220 feet of water in
the West Delta area of the Gulf of Mexico, in block 105. Houston-based Apache
Corp., drilled three wells there in 2001, according to federal government
records.
Federal officials have cited the facility for not complying
with offshore oil regulations on 38 separate occasions dating back to 1997,
though many — 18 — were during drilling activity in 2001. Four citations were
issued in 2011, one in 2012 and one this June. All of them came before
Fieldwood became the facility’s operator in July.
A portfolio company of the New York private equity firm
Riverstone Holdings, Fieldwood officially became a qualified offshore operator
a year earlier, in July 2013.
The company has been aggressively building up a Gulf of Mexico
portfolio, with a $3.75 billion purchase of Apache Corp.
assets on the continental shelf in 2013 and a $750 million deal for SandRidge
Energy’s Gulf Coast and Gulf of Mexico unit earlier this year.
Other Fieldwood Energy operations in the Gulf have had minor
injuries this year.
For instance, one injury was reported at a Fieldwood facility
in July, when Hercules Offshore was the contractor on site. According to a
safety bureau accident investigation report, a worker suffered a broken finger
while using an electronic jack to maneuver a pallet of chemicals and a switch
became stuck in the reverse position.
In a separate June incident documented by the safety bureau, a
contractor at another Fieldwood Energy facility was injured when he missed a
step on a stairway from the heliport and a 50-pound bag landed on his hip,
breaking it.
__________________________________________________________
November
3, 2013 at 10:00 am Jennifer A. Dlouhy in Premium
WASHINGTON — The death of a welder who fell from an offshore
platform last week highlights the dangers facing the large immigrant and
contractor workforce employed to maintain and decommission decades-old oil and
gas facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.
Four Filipino workers have died in the past year during welding
and other physical work on shallow Gulf facilities, prompting concern from
Manila to Washington, D.C.
“In light of these events, the Philippine Embassy would like to
express its deep concern over the safety of Filipinos working in offshore
facilities in the United States,” Ambassador Jose Cusia Jr. said in a
statement.
Hundreds of workers from the island nation toil in U.S. waters
as welders, fabricators and riggers, mostly for contractors such as Galliano,
La.-based Grand Isle Shipyard and Houma, La.-based Offshore Specialty
Fabricators, the firm involved in the most recent incident.
Federal investigators are looking into
what caused 38-year-old Peter Jorge E. Voces to plunge to his death
from an Energy Resource Technology oil and gas platform about 75 miles
southeast of Lake Charles.
A 76-member derrick barge crew from Offshore
Specialty Fabricators was dismantling the inactive structure at
the time of the accident, around 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 27, said David Blackmon, an
Energy Resource Technology spokesman.
Voces was believed to be working on an 80-foot-by-16-foot
300-barrel tank when it fell off the platform, carrying the welder with it. His
body was recovered two days later.
Officials with Offshore Specialty Fabricators did not return a
request for comment but a statement on its website said the firm was deeply
saddened by Voces’ death and would cooperate with U.S. and Philippine officials
in any investigations.
Energy Resource Technology, which is a subsidiary of
Houston-based oil and gas firm Talos Energy, also pledged cooperation.
“The safety of people is always our highest priority, and we
will be focused on the safety of our employees and our contractors throughout
the investigation,” the company said in a statement.
Black
Elk platform explosion
Three other Filipino workers died roughly a year ago during
maintenance work on another Gulf platform, this one about 18 miles off the
Louisiana coast. Federal investigators are set to release a report soon on what
caused an explosion on that facility owned by
Houston-based Black Elk Energy. A report commissioned by the
firm pinned blame on workers for Grand Isle
Shipyard who were cutting through a pipe that had not been fully
isolated and cleared of flammable vapors.
A 2011 lawsuit against Grand Isle and recruiting companies
alleges that they lured foreign workers with promises of $16.26 in hourly wages and
a shot at permanent U.S. visas but then forced the Filipinos to pay for housing
in alleged slave-like conditions, relinquish their bunks to American workers
and accept as little as $5.50 per hour. Grand Isle has rejected the claims.
Other lawsuits have been brought against Black Elk Energy and
Grand Isle Shipyard by victims of the November 2012 blast, the most recent
filed against Black Elk by a burned Filipino pipe fitter who says workers were
inadequately supervised and not outfitted with adequate safety gear.
Shady
employment practices
The Filipino workers have come to the Gulf under a variety of
non-immigrant visas. In Grand Isle’s case, workers say in court documents they
were in the United States on a specialized E-2 or “treaty investor” visa,
limited to employees of people in trade partner nations who are investing
substantial money in U.S. businesses.
Enforcement: Feds
rap offshore contractors for safety violations
Terry Valen, the San Francisco-based president of the National
Alliance for Filipino Concerns, said the offshore deaths shed light on shady
employment practices and deplorable conditions.
“To hear of another death — a worker falling off a platform —
we see the protections are not there,” he said. “It’s not being ensured by the
Philippine government for its citizens and the U.S. government in how its
regulating. It’s an outrage for the Filipino community.”
Roughly one in 10 Filipinos works abroad, in nations ringing
the globe, but Valen notes that the accidents in the Gulf are not what you’d
expect from “the United States, the most advanced country.”
Contractors
under scrutiny
The recent deaths also are drawing fresh scrutiny to the web of
contractors that work for energy companies in the Gulf.
Traditionally, federal drilling regulators focused solely on
companies holding offshore oil and gas leases, putting the onus on them to make
sure contractors follow regulations. But under a change in 2011, the Bureau of
Safety and Environmental Enforcement began policing contractors too,
occasionally penalizing them as well as operators for running afoul of
requirements.
Bureau director Brian Salerno
said that a greater focus on contractors may be needed.
“The connections between operators and contractors can probably
be tightened up from a safety perspective,” he said, during one of his first interviews
since taking over the agency two months ago. “I think the relationships are
kind of loose, and I think that represents a safety vulnerability.”
Salerno noted that contractor activity was a thread that
appeared to run through recent accidents in the Gulf — both the two fatal
incidents and others involving offshore wells.
“In some of the instances we’ve seen offshore, that appears to
be a factor,” Salerno said.
_______________________________________________________________
April
26, 2013 at 1:07 pm Emily Pickrell in Accidents, Gulf oil spill, Offshore
Chevron employees board a helicopter on the Tahiti production
platform in the Gulf of Mexico, a 90 minute ride from New Orleans. (Simone
Sebastian/Houston Chronicle)
Death by helicopter is the leading cause of industrial
accidents for oil and gas workers, according to a Center for Disease Control
report issued Friday.
While the fiery deaths of the 11 workers killed in the 2010
Deepwater Horizon has been a stark reminder of the dangers of offshore
drilling, the transportation required to reach offshore platforms is
statistically a much greater danger.
Helicopter accidents accounted for 49 of 128 fatalities from
2003-2010, making up 75 percent of all transportation related deaths for oil
and gas workers.
The fatality rate for oil and gas workers onshore and offshore
is seven times higher than that for all U.S. workers, with 27.1 versus 3.8
deaths per 100,000 workers.
Transportation events, which includes all ‘transportation and
material moving’ activities, were the leading cause of energy industry worker
deaths, making up 51 percent of the total.
Seventeen helicopter events were responsible for these deaths,
all of which took place in Gulf of Mexico offshore operations, the report said.
Eleven of these accidents were responsible for the fatalities, with five events
involving a mechanical failure and bad weather contributing to three accidents.
In five of the accidents, nine fatalities involved workers who survived the
accident but later drowned.
In five events, a total of nine fatalities involved occupants
who survived the initial impact but later drowned. All of the helicopter events
occurred in Gulf of Mexico offshore operations.
The study also noted that while the number of active offshore
drilling rigs decreased by 63 percent from 2003 to 2010, the number of annual
fatalities during offshore operations remained stable, indicating that the
ratio of accidents to worker is actually increasing.
“To reduce fatalities in offshore oil and gas operations,
employers should ensure that the most stringent applicable transportation
safety guidelines are followed,” advised the Center for Disease Control in the
report.
The Centers report used government data from the Census of
Fatal Occupational Injuries for the period 2003–2010 for its findings.
September
14, 2014 at 1:00 am Associated Press in Accidents, Natural gas,
_______________________________________________________________________
NEW ORLEANS — A contractor was killed and two others were
injured Saturday during maintenance on a Chevron natural gas pipeline off the
Louisiana coast, authorities said.
The contractor, whose name was not immediately released, was
among four maintenance workers on the platform when the accident occurred about
11:10 a.m. Saturday, said Gareth Johnstone, a spokesman for Chevron Pipe Line
Co. He said the two other workers were taken to a hospital for what are
expected to be minor injuries.
A helicopter brought two people from offshore to meet an
ambulance, but both declined to take the ambulance to a hospital after being
checked by medics, said Randall Ansley, shift supervisor for Acadian Ambulance.
Johnstone said he did not know what caused the death and
injuries.
The platform is part of a natural gas gathering system and the
pipeline was shut-in after the accident, Johnstone said.
He said the cause of the accident was being investigated.
Johnstone said a small amount of natural gas condensate was
released into the water, but dissipated. Natural gas is being released at the
platform to relieve pressure on the line owned by Chevron Midstream Pipeline
LLC. Johnstone said containment crews were headed to the platform.
He said he did not know whether the initial release of gas was
under water or at the pipeline level.
Col. Mike Edmonson, superintendent of Louisiana State Police,
said Chevron reported the accident to the state about 2 p.m. Saturday.