At least 89 people died on the job in the Interior West’s oil and gas industry from 2000 to 2006, in a variety of accidents, including 90-foot falls, massive explosions, poison gas inhalations and crushings by safety harnesses. Some states choose to have the federal government handle worker safety regulation, and some create state agencies to handle it; all the agencies tend to go by the nickname OSHA, after the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Some fines in the cases listed below are not directly related to fatalities; sometimes investigators notice unrelated safety violations when they visit workplaces where workers have died.

This list is almost certainly incomplete, due to loopholes in requirements for reporting fatalities.

The list below includes the victims' names, age at time of death, date of the accident, company(s) involved, a description of the accident, and fines, if any. Names with hotlinks connect to .pdf's of complete OSHA incident reports.

COLORADO

 

Ricky Erb, 19

11/27/06 Schneider Energy Services

Head injury, blown out of 5-foot hole when a reportedly 40-year-old pipeline Pending ruptured. He and rest of crew were using a cutting tool to open the pipeline, and they didn’t expect it to contain pressurized gas.

Jacob Farmer, 19

11/16/06 Leed Energy Services Inc.

Struck by falling pulley on a well-servicing rig. The victim’s father works in oil and gas. Pending

 

Phillip Smith, 44

11/6/06 Easy Street Crane Service

Crushed by truck. Pending

 

Joshua Arvidson, 24

1/25/06 Calfrac Well Services Ltd.

Engulfed by 40,000 pounds of sand in a storage bin. $27,825

 

Zac Mitchek, 42

11/25/05 Patterson-UTI Drilling Co.

Electrocuted while doing maintenance on a light plant for a drill rig. $11,900

 

Larry Hill, 42

11/7/05 Union Drilling Inc.

Fell 55 feet from platform on drill-rig derrick while handling hoisted drill pipes. OSHA said the company did not ensure that the worker was using proper fall-protection gear. $19,990

 

Randall Taylor, 62

8/14/04 Wolverine Drilling Inc.

Crushed by pulley system that collapsed from top of derrick while rig was trying to lift 270,000 pounds of drill pipe from a hole 8,400-feet deep. OSHA issued violations for unrelated problems. $4,560 

 

Scott Nelson, 26

6/1/04 Union Drilling Inc.

Crushed when the top of a drill rig collapsed. OSHA estimated the rig was built in the 1970s and said a faulty weld failed under the strain of more than 300,000 pounds of drill pipe. $18,225\

 

Stephen Amen, 44

5/13/03 D&D Water Service

Struck when parts broke on a hoisting mast on service truck. $10,795

 

Raul Barron, 44

4/1/03 Kerr McGee Rocky Mt Corp.

Explosion at oil-and-gas waste storage plant while a crew welded a tank. Three others were hospitalized.

$14,000

M.J. Welding Inc.

$3,900

Bravo Services Total Inc. $1,500

 

Marty Vigil, 32

11/18/02 Caza Drilling Inc.

Fell 100 feet from platform on derrick while drill rig was tripping pipe into the hole. OSHA said he did not have his fall-protection gear rigged properly. OSHA imposed fines for unrelated violations. $4,313

 

Michael Blanchfield, 41

10/2/02 Hayes Petroleum

Crushed by cable that spooled onto a winch on a drill rig while crew tried to use the winch to jar loose an obstruction deep in the hole. $3,936

 

Rex McCarley, 44

9/17/01 Baker Oil & Tool

Struck in head on a workover rig by a 60-pound valve that came loose and fell 15 feet. He was wearing a hard hat. None

 

Martin Mireles, 48

7/11/01 Key Energy Services, Inc.

Struck by counterweight on oil well pumping unit.

$2,500

Merit Energy Co. Merit leases the well site where Mireles died and hired Key Energy to do the work. $2,250

 

Dominick Mustache, 48

6/15/01 Colorado Refining Co.

Fell off ladder in refinery. None