In April 2013, a study conducted by CDC revealed that offshore workers in the gas and Oil industry are 7 times more likely to obtain injuries and die than workers in any other industry. This study further revealed that the major cause of death in the maritime industry was transportation either to or from the site area. The coast of Louisiana is home to many offshore platforms, vessels servicing and rigs. Louisiana personal injury lawyers often face a wide range of claims related to death or personal injury involving offshore maritime litigation. The calamity that is fresh on everyone’s mind was when the oil drilling accident where 11 workers went missing in 2010.
Frantic Search For 11 Workers Called Off
After a 3 day manhunt, the Coast Guard had to call off the search for 11 workers who went missing after the blast. The cause of the blast remained unknown by the time the search was called off. Coast Guard officials released a statement saying they believed that the workers did not manage to get off the platform after the giant fireball erupted. They also reported that four workers had been critically injured, but they were doing better.
Review of The Death and Accident Toll
Steven Newman speaking on behalf of Transocean Ltd which owned the rig, said that the missing workers were part of the team which operated the drills. He assured the public that the investigation would continue so as to ascertain the cause of the blast. As the search of the workers drew to an end, oil company crews had embarked on cleaning the environmental mess that the explosion had created. The other crew members who were 115 made it off the platform at the time of the explosion. Among them, two had been hospitalized, but recovering.
A review published by MMS in the previous year indicated that out of the 1,443 accidents which had taken place between 2001 and 2007, 41 deaths were recorded. Further investigations into the accidents revealed that communication breakdown between the contractors and operators contributed largely to these accidents. Further probing revealed a lack of detailed procedures and failure to implement these procedures. Another reason cited in the report revealed that equipment failure did not play a huge role in the oil-rig accidents.
Accident Prompts Amendments of Safety Regulations
Previous deaths and injuries of workers in the maritime industry should have convinced the Federal regulations to make regulatory changes; however, what caught their attention was the explosion. After 11 workers went missing, they could no longer turn a blind eye to the dangers faced by maritime workers. The Minerals and Management Service begun drafting regulations that were aimed at reducing the chance of occurrence of these accidents. Following the oil drilling accidents that happened between 2001 and 2007, it was concluded that human error was the main cause of these accidents.
The Way Forward
Based on the findings that had been published by MMS, it was concluded that new rules would have to be drafted. These rules would require that all rig operators develop programs whose main focus would be to reduce human error. This was an area which had been neglected in the recent past, but the new findings had revealed that this was a major contributor to these accidents. The regulations were met with opposition from different parties, there are those who stated that human error was not something that could be outlawed. A lot still remains to be done both in terms of drafting workable regulations and implementing them.