DOUGLAS, WY — Two people were taken to the hospital after an explosion and fire at a Chesapeake Oil Facility in Douglas, Wyoming on Friday, May 1st, 2015. The exact time of the explosion was not pinned down in local news reports.
Two unnamed men were hurt when the Chesapeake Oil facility they were working at exploded for reasons currently under investigation. Authorities said that the contractors were working at a well head when a generator may have caused a fire and subsequent explosion.
Both workers were taken to area hospitals with unspecified injuries.
The investigation into the accident is in it’s early phases at this time.
Scene of the Accident
Commentary:
Considering several news reports identified the workers that were hurt in this accident as contractors, things may be a bit more complex than a simple (and often difficult) workers’ compensation process. What do I mean? Well, construction sites and oil drilling sites/platforms are typically overloaded with several different contractors representing several different companies doing several different tasks all at the same place. Sometimes, an accident caused by one company will hurt the employees of another company. In these situations, and possibly the one described above, the company that caused the accident would be hit with the claim, and not the victim’s employer. How is this beneficial? In many ways, but mainly the fact that a claim against another company takes away the employer’s opportunity to low ball their employee and call it a day without so much as a fuss, because the employer knows disputing whatever amount they offer is next to impossible. If another company caused this accident, or if there was a defect in the generator that caught fire, the contractor, or the manufacturer of the generator could be seen as an intervening third party, in which case they’d be responsible for the damages. It all depends on a lot of factors though, but without question, this is one situation that needs a closer look and a lot of questions answered.
— Grossman Law Offices
