Franklin, TX — An oilfield worker was seriously injured in an explosion at an abandoned well near Franklin, Texas. The man suffered severe burns and had to be flown to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston.
The accident took place near Rabe Cutoff Road on Wednesday, June 9, 2014. The worker’s name hasn’t been released.
According to reports, the man was part of a crew that was meant to cap a well that had been decommission for some time. The accident occurred when nearby storage tanks caught fire and exploded. The reason for the fire is still being investigated.
Scene of the Accident
Commentary
There are still a lot of questions that need to be answered before a way forward can be determined here. News reports don’t give many details on how the explosion occurred, but I’m willing to bet that what actually happened is much more complicated than people think. I’m sure a lot of people hear about a fire at an oilfield and think maybe someone had lit a cigarette or something like that. And accidents like that do occur, but not always. I worked on a case once in which an employee was driving a vehicle called a hot oil truck near. Much as the name suggestions, these vehicles heat oil and so get very hot. Unbeknownst to him, someone performing maintenance on the truck had forgotten to open a pressure valve on the truck. Pressure built up, the tank on the back of the truck exploded, with then caused the truck to explode. The employee was sprayed with hot oil and severely burned. The point here is that this accident could have been caused by any number of things. Someone needs to look into it, find out what happened, and take the proper steps to make sure it never happens again.
— Grossman Law Offices
