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Oil and Gas Injury Lawyers

Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale drilling has dramatically changed the landscape of our communities.  Years ago, the rural parts of our communities were simply farms, rolling hills, and ridge tops.  Now, well pads dot the landscape and pipelines crisscross many West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania counties.  Well pads, oil and gas facilities, compressor sites, pipelines, and other infrastructure continue to be built every day.  With this dramatic increase in oil and gas activity comes the risk of injuries to workers and landowners alike.  When a person is injured as a result of this activity, a skilled and experienced oil and gas injury lawyer is invaluable to making sure they receive the compensation they deserve.

Unfortunately, the oil and gas industry can be a dangerous industry, and it’s not uncommon for people to suffer oil and gas injuries.  No one is 100% immune from oil and gas injuries.  Whether you work in the industry or are a landowner or simply driving on the roads, we all face the possibility of suffering an oil and gas injury. 

When oil and gas accidents occur, the results can be devastating.  Because of the heavy machinery and equipment used in the industry combined with the flammable and combustible nature of oil and natural gas, oil and gas accidents can result in serious and life-threatening injuries.  Even more, the worst oil and gas injuries can cause permanent disability and even death.    

An oil and gas injury lawyer can help those injured in an oil and gas accident.  However, oil and gas injury cases are often unique and complex, and very few lawyers have the knowledge, experience, and resources to handle such cases.  Don’t be fooled.  The best oil and gas injury lawyers have knowledge of both the industry and personal injury litigation.  The oil and gas attorneys at GKT have this experience, and no other local law firm matches our results. 

If you’ve been injured in an oil and gas accident in West Virginia, Ohio, or Pennsylvania, contact the oil and gas injury lawyers at Gold, Khourey & Turak.  Our oil and gas lawyers have detailed knowledge of the industry while our personal injury lawyers have vast experience litigating personal injury and wrongful death cases.  That’s why GKT’s services are unparalleled when it comes to oil and gas injury cases.  Our oil and gas injury attorneys are available 24 hours day by calling (304) 845-9750, by Live Chat at GKT.com, or online.  Need help?  Get help.  Get GKT. 

About Gold Khourey & Turak Oil and Gas Injury Lawyers

Gold, Khourey & Turak’s oil and gas injury attorneys represent people injured in oil and gas accidents in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.  Having established a dedicated oil and gas practice at the very beginning of the Marcellus and Utica boom, GKT has been at the forefront of representing land and mineral owners in the Ohio Valley.  GKT’s lawyers know the oil and gas industry.  Combined with our more than 40 years of personal injury experience, GKT’s oil and gas injury lawyers bring a unique edge to oil and gas accident cases. 

That’s why if you’ve been injured in an oil and gas accident, GKT’s oil and gas injury lawyers are the right lawyers for you.  Contact GKT today for a free consultation.  Need help?  Get help.  Get GKT.     

Common Oil and Gas Accidents

The oil and gas industry constructs and operates a variety of facilities.  These facilities do everything from produce the oil and gas from the ground to transporting it to market and everything in between. 

Unfortunately, accidents can and do happen at any step during the process.  What follows is a list of the most common oil and gas accidents occurring in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. 

Well Pad Accidents and Fracking Accidents

A well pad is where a production company drills oil and gas wells. A typical Marcellus and/or Utica well pad can be 30 acres or more in size and have 10, 15, or more wells.  A single well pad can drill both the Marcellus and Utica.  Well pads often consist of other oil and gas facilities such as tanks, processing facilities, meters, and fractionation facilities. 

Because a well pad is the site of drilling and production of oil and gas from the ground, there is a significant risk of injury or explosion (or what is commonly referred to as a well blowout).  Well pad workers and people nearby can be seriously injured by a well pad explosion or other accident.  Well pad injuries can include brain and spine injuries as well as broken bones and loss of limbs.  Well pad accidents can even result in permanent disability and disfigurement or death. 

Pipeline Accidents

Once oil and gas is produced, it must be transported off of the well pad.  While some oil, condensate, and natural gas liquids are transported off site by tanker trucks, natural gas and other products are transported by pipelines to processing facilities and elsewhere.  Eventually, natural gas and other products often end up in high volume, high pressured interstate transmission pipelines to be sold several states away.  Oil and gas pipelines can range in size from a few inches in diameter to over 40 inches in diameter.  They can transport any number of oil and gas products as well as fresh water and “produced” or “frac” water. 

Pipeline accident injuries are some of the more frequent oil and gas injuries.  As we have experienced locally, pipeline injuries can occur during construction of the pipeline.  Heavy machinery and equipment are an integral part of pipeline construction.  Combined with difficult terrain and generally wet conditions, pipeline construction accidents occur all across West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. 

Once pipelines are in operation, there is always the chance of a pipeline explosion or other incident.  Natural gas pipelines can be high pressured and carry tremendous volumes.  When pipeline explosions occur, it can cause damage miles away from the actual site of the explosion.  That’s why it’s no surprise that pipeline explosions can cause serious injury and even death. 

Heavy Machinery and Heavy Equipment Accidents

Heavy machinery and heavy equipment are necessary tools in the oil and gas industry.  Oil and gas workers use these tools every day to construct well pads, pipelines, compressor stations, and other oil and gas facilities. 

The use of heavy machinery and heavy equipment is not without risk.  When heavy machinery or heavy equipment fails, oil and gas workers can suffer catastrophic and life-changing injuries.  Heavy machinery or heavy equipment may fail for any number of reasons, including:

  • Failure to train or inadequate training
  • Inexperienced workers
  • Mechanical failures
  • Failure to repair
  • Failure to maintain
  • Inadequate safety inspections
  • Manufacturing defects

Some of the more common heavy machinery and heavy equipment used in the oil and gas industry include:

  • Valves
  • Tanks
  • Heat exchangers
  • Air coolers
  • Evaporators
  • Boilers
  • Furnaces
  • Compressors
  • Drill bits
  • Mud pumps
  • Blowout preventers
  • Pump jacks
  • Frac tanks
  • Engines
  • Generators
  • Hydraulic power units
  • Hoists
  • Turntables
  • Drill strings

Heavy Vehicle Accidents

Just as heavy machinery and heavy equipment go hand and hand with the oil and gas industry, so do heavy vehicles.  And, similar to heavy machinery and heavy equipment injuries, injury caused by heavy vehicle accidents can be just as devastating and result in permanent disability or even death. 

Heavy vehicle accidents may occur for the same reasons that heavy machinery and heavy equipment accidents occur:

  • Improper or inadequate training
  • Manufacturing defects
  • Lack of experience
  • Maintenance issues
  • Repair issues
  • Mechanical or equipment failure

Some of the more common heavy vehicles used in the oil and gas industry include:

  • Dozers
  • Backhoes
  • Boom trucks
  • Cranes
  • Bucket trucks
  • Riggers
  • Heavy haul tractors
  • Knuckle booms
  • Water trucks
  • Vacuum trucks
  • Telehandlers
  • Track equipment
  • Fuel trucks

Common Oil and Gas Injuries

The oil and gas industry is one of the most dangerous industries in which to work.  The simple truth is that oil and gas workers put their lives on the line each and every day they go to work.  And, when accidents happen, oil and gas injury is very likely to follow.  Those oil and gas injuries can run the gamut from scrapes and bruises to broken bones and torn ligaments and tendons to brain and spinal injuries causing permanent disability or loss of life. 

Unfortunately, it is not only oil and gas workers who may suffer oil and gas injuries.  People living or working in the vicinity of oil and gas activity may be injured as well.  The most frequent injuries suffered by landowners result from well pad explosions, pipeline explosions, and heavy vehicle accidents. 

Some of the most common oil and gas injuries in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania include:

Brain Injury

Some of the most serious oil and gas injuries are brain injuries.  Brain injuries include anything from a concussion to brain swelling and brain bleeding.  Even with the best medical treatment, brain injuries sustained in an oil and gas accident can cause permanent cognitive and function losses and death.  Brain injuries are most common in well pad explosions and pipeline explosions but can happen in any oil and gas accident.

Spine Injury

Other common oil and gas injuries are spine or spinal cord injuries.  Spine injuries can include anything from slipped or herniated discs to broken vertebrae to a severed spinal cord.  Even the most minor spine injuries can leave long-lasting and sometimes permanent pain and loss of motion.  Of course, the worst spine injuries result in paralysis.  Spine injuries are more common in the worst oil and gas accidents but can happen in even the most minor oil and gas accidents. 

Loss of Limb

Oil and gas accidents sometimes result in the loss of an arm, leg, finger, or other limb or body part. Whether the limb is lost in the actual accident or is damaged beyond repair and needs amputated, the results are devastating.  Not only does the injured person have the obvious lost use of a limb, their ability to perform day to day activities may be significantly impaired.  The loss of a limb may occur in any oil and gas accident but occur most frequently in well pad explosions, pipeline explosions, and heavy machinery and heavy equipment failures.

Broken Bones

Broken bones are another common oil and gas injury. The bones of the arms, legs, hands, and feet are the most commonly broken bones in oil and gas accidents.  Broken bones can occur in any type of oil and gas accident.

Torn Tendons, Ligaments, and Muscles

Torn or injured tendons, ligaments, and muscles are very common oil and gas injuries. These so-called “soft tissue” injuries can affect any part of the body and result in a long and painful recovery. Sometimes, injured people never fully recover from these injuries and suffer permanent loss of motion.  Injuries to tendons, ligaments, muscles, and other soft tissue can occur in any type of oil and gas accident.

Burns

One of the most painful injuries one can suffer in an oil and gas accident are burns. Burns range from 1st degree burns to 4th degree burns and can affect any part of the body.  In light of the combustible and flammable nature of oil and gas, burns are a frequent oil and gas injury.  And, when they do happen in an oil and gas accident, they tend to be more severe burns.  Because burns are extremely painful oil and gas injuries, those injured may be entitled to significant compensation for pain and suffering.

Death

The most serious oil and gas injuries result in death. It’s an unfortunate part of the oil and gas industry.  When someone is killed as a result of an oil and gas accident, their loved ones are often left devastated and confused by their sudden and tragic loss.  It’s important to know that the family of a person killed in an oil and gas accident may have a wrongful death case.   

If you’ve suffered a brain injury as a result of someone else’s actions or inactions, you may be entitled to compensation.  That’s true regardless if you’ve been involved in one of these accidents.  Contacting a brain injury lawyer like those at GKT is the first step to determining whether you have a claim.

Compensation for Oil and Gas Injuries

A wide variety of compensation may be available for people suffering an oil and gas injury.  A knowledgeable and experienced oil and gas injury attorney can help someone injured in an accident determine what types of compensation may be available and how much.  That’s why it’s so important to contact a reputable oil and gas injury lawyer as soon as possible.

If you’ve been injured in an oil and gas accident, you may be entitled to the following types of compensation:

  • Payment for medical bills and expenses
  • Payment for future medical bills and expenses
  • Lost wages and income
  • Lost future wages and future income
  • Diminished earning capacity
  • Loss of companionship
  • Emotional distress
  • Pain and suffering
  • Aggravation, annoyance, and inconvenience
  • Punitive damages

The best oil and gas injury lawyers will know how to maximize the amount of compensation due for an oil and gas injury. 

What Should I Do if I’m Injured in an Oil and Gas Accident?

Nothing is more important than your health and safety.  Thus, no matter how “minor” you may think your injuries are, it’s vitally important to seek medical treatment as soon as possible.  If you’ve been injured in an oil and gas accident, make sure you do the following:

  • Stop work immediately
  • Seek medical treatment as soon as possible
  • Report the accident and your injuries to your employer as soon as possible
  • Do not provide any statement to your employer
  • Do not sign any document for your employer
  • Do not accept any money or other compensation from your employer
  • Do not speak with an insurance company
  • Contact a reputable and experienced oil and gas injury lawyer, like those at GKT

It cannot be stated enough—companies, employers, and insurance companies seek to avoid paying for oil and gas injuries and/or seek to pay as little as possible for oil and gas injuries.  Some of the more common tactics used to do so include:

  • Obtaining written and recorded statements that can be used against the injured person
  • “Misplacing” critical evidence of the accident
  • Blaming the injured person
  • Discrediting the injured person
  • Downplaying the severity or extent of any injuries

That’s why if you’ve been injured in an oil and gas accident, it is critical that you contact an oil and gas injury lawyer as soon as possible. 

If you do those things and have a good oil and gas lawyer by your side and fighting for you, you will be well on your way to obtaining the compensation you deserve. 

GKT’S Oil and Gas Injury Lawyers are Industry Leaders

At GKT, our oil and gas injury lawyers have experience representing those injured in every type of oil and gas accident.  As the oil and gas industry continues to grow in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, so too does GKT’s oil and gas injury practice.  Our oil and gas injury lawyers have been at the forefront since the beginning of the Marcellus and Utica Shale booms and will continue to do so as the industry evolves. 

Contact GKT Today

If you’ve been injured in an oil and gas accident, contact GKT today to discuss your case.  A consultation with one of our oil and gas injury lawyers is always free.  Consultations are also available 24/7, 365 days a year, in-person or by phone, text, or live chat.  We represent all of our oil and gas injury clients on a contingency fee basis.  That means that we don’t charge a fee unless we obtain compensation for you.  If you have suffered an oil and gas injury, we are here to help.  Need help?  Get help.  Get GKT.

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