Feds In Colorado Launch Huge Oil And Gas Worker Safety Study

An unprecedented study of the hazards rooted in America's largest oil patches will be launched next year by federal health officials in Colorado who hope to cut the dangers faced by oil and gas workers.

Scientists from the Denver office of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health — which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — will distribute questionnaires to 500 oil field workers in North Dakota, Texas and another unnamed state.

Institute personnel will fan out to so-called "man camps"; training centers; equipment and trucking yards; well sites; and community centers in oilfield towns.

Oil field work is considered one of the most dangerous in the country. Between 2005 and 2009, the national occupational fatality rate for the oil and gas industry was seven times higher than the general industry rate and 2½ times higher than the construction industry rate.

Workers will be asked about the types of injuries they've suffered while on the job, what they were doing when they were injured, the training they've had and whether oil companies provide bonuses to workers who don't report an injury or incident over a certain length of time, said Kyla Retzer, a Denver-based epidemiologist with the institute's oil and gas program.

Retzer said the institute decided to take on this survey to gauge firsthand the dangers that oil and gas workers deal with daily.

"We've analyzed fatality numbers, and we knew that fatality rates were high among oil field workers," Retzer said. "But we have n't talked to workers directly in a systematic way about some of their safety-related behaviors and what their concerns are."

"It's not an organized workforce," Retzer said, "so there is no real access to a specific group."

The oil industry, which is cooperating fully with the study, will allow the institute onto well sites for their survey, Retzer said.

Several initiatives between industry and government officials have cut the number of injuries on oil field sites, and working with regulators is a priority among oil companies, say industry officials.

"(The institute) is an important partner in our ongoing efforts to preserve safety in the workplace," said Tracee Bentley, executive director of the Colorado Petroleum Council, "and we support research efforts that will contribute to the mission of continuous improvement, even as the industry creates thousands of new American jobs."

Retzer said they are especially interested in gathering information about driving hazards in the oil fields, since there are "a lot of deaths involving transportation."

"We will be asking a lot of questions about policies regarding seat belts, cellphone use and different training programs," Retzer said.

Officials hope the survey, which should take about three years to administer and compile, will lead to a safer place for oil field workers, she said.

Oil and gas workers risk exposure to toxic amounts of hydrocarbon chemicals through tank gauging and from fires and explosions.

At least nine men, including three from Colorado, have died over the past five years from tank gauging, a measuring of the level of oil and other byproducts in tanks coming out of wells.

Colorado's latest oil field fatality occurred in November. Matthew Smith, 36, of Brighton was trying to heat a frozen high-pressure water line when it ruptured, killing him.

Federal safety records show that between 2005 and 2013, there were 20 fatalities in the oil and gas fields in Colorado. The highest numbers were in Weld County, 35 percent; Garfield, 25 percent; and Rio Blanco, 15 percent.

Critics claim there is little oversight of the oil and gas industry in Colorado and the United States. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration doesn't routinely inspect oil field sites and responds only to worker complaints or if there is a death on a site.

There is a lack of a comprehensive recording of oil-and-gas-related deaths, they say.

Denver attorney Randy Kelly says Colorado is primarily concerned with environmental safety and not worker safety. Meanwhile, he said, OSHA "is hamstrung to only employment problems, and they come in almost always after something bad happens."

Last year, Kelly won a $6.5 million judgment against a company in charge of a well site in Weld County. The death of his client, Reyes Garcia, was caused by the company's negligence.

"People in the production side work outrageous hours, in hostile climatic conditions and around equipment that is super-dangerous," Kelly said. "It can be a brutal business."

By Monte Whaley

Source:Denver Post