After an Oil Field Injury, Companies Rush to Cover Their Tracks

Raymond Hatcher | 888-364-6814 | Free Consult

What happens after an oil field injury? According to attorney Raymond Hatcher, representatives from multiple companies wait for the injured party to leave the site and then begin to work together to cover up what really happened.

Raymond Hatcher is a trial attorney with Sloan Law Firm, which is based in Longview, Texas, and has offices in Houston and Santa Fe. He devotes his practice exclusively to litigation, and his areas of practice include truck accidents, car accidents, commercial litigation, toxic torts, ERISA claims, and workplace injury cases.

To learn more, contact the attorney directly by calling 888-364-6814 or by submitting a contact form on this page. The consultation is free and confidential, and you owe no out-of-pocket attorney fees.

Many companies are involved in the operation of an oil field.

Aside from the actual drilling company, there could also be a variety of service companies brought onto the field by the drilling contractor. These companies could include mud companies, flowback companies, and more. Each company involved in the oil field will have its own health, safety, and environmental teams. When an accident occurs, each team from each company will be called on to deduce the cause of the accident and determine their own potential liability for ensuing damages.

When an injury occurs on an oil field, these companies each send their own representatives to determine what happened.

When an injury occurs on location, one of the first things that will happen is that the operator will gather together representatives from each company’s health, safety, and environmental teams and have them go out to the site of the accident and determine what happened. Unfortunately, an unscrupulous pattern has emerged in which these teams may tamper with evidence to cover up the reality of the accident in order to protect themselves from liability.

The companies involved in the operation of an oil field will do what they can to cover up incriminating evidence.

This is why it’s essential to preserve whatever evidence you can before leaving the scene of the accident. Pictures, videos, as well as witness information and testimonies are all important pieces of evidence to record and keep in a safe place where it cannot be lost or deleted. If you are unable to preserve this evidence due to an injury, see if someone else you trust might be able to do so in your place.

Seek medical attention and legal representation right away.

It's important to seek medical attention right away if you have been injured in an oil field accident. Not only is this essential for your own health but doing so can provide your attorney with more evidence for the validity of your case. Avoid discussing the circumstances in which your injury occurred with your medical team or any other third party. Whatever you say to your doctors could be written down in your medical records and later used against your case. It’s also important to be prompt when seeking medical attention for an injury. Waiting to seek medical treatment could result in the at-fault party claiming your injury couldn’t have been bad enough to deserve compensation if you didn’t seek assistance right away.

To learn more, contact Raymond Hatcher directly by calling 888-364-6814 or by submitting a contact form on this page. The consultation is free and confidential, and you owe no out-of-pocket attorney fees.

Video Transcript:

Rob Rosenthal:
Do you know what happens next when you’re injured in the oil field? We asked Texas attorney Raymond Hatcher in this AskTheLawyers.com™ Quick Question.

Raymond Hatcher:
There’s a drilling contractor that’s contracted with the operator who’s actually the oil company that’s drilling the well. And there’ll be multiple other companies out there. Those are called service companies. You know, there’ll be mud companies, there’ll be flowback companies. There’ll be all kinds of other companies out there. Every one of these companies has their own health and safety and environmental teams. And when there’s an injury on location, the first thing that happens once the injured individual is gone is the operator gathers all those other companies’ safety men, and they all go out there and they determine what happened. And then they do everything they can to cover that up.

Disclaimer: This video is for informational purposes only. In some states, this video may be deemed Attorney Advertising. The choice of lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements.