In June of 2018, Jesse Henson was sent to the Jeffrey Energy Center power plant to investigate a steam release at the plant. When Henson reached the floor that he was to be working on, he was immediately engulfed in boiling, superheated steam that burned his flesh and ultimately killed him. After his death, investigations…
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Explosions, fires, and chemical releases are completely avoidable. These incidents can happen in refineries, plants, or anywhere natural gas or hydrocarbons are stored. The only way for any of these events to occur is if the owner or operator fails to follow federal or state safety rules to cut costs and increase profits, rather than…
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Recently released statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor show that there were 5,333 fatalities related to recorded work injuries in 2019. It was the highest number of workplace deaths in a single year. 5,333 is an increase of nearly 200 additional deaths from 2018. The basic reasons for these fatal events included transportation incidents,…
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The LyondellBasell chemical processing plant, located at 1515 Miller Cut-Off Road, La Porte, Texas experienced a loss of containment event that killed 2 and injured dozens more. The explosion happened at 7:35 pm in the acetals area of the La Porte Complex when a unit experienced a loss of containment resulting in a leak of…
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Falls are the leading cause of death in construction, they account for one-third of all construction related fatalities. Workers performing jobs 6 feet or higher on ladders, scaffolds, and roofs are at risk of falling, sustaining serious injuries or even death. Preventing these falls can mean the difference between life and death. Employers can easily…
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The Fifth Circuit’s recent en banc decision in Sanchez v. Smart Fabricators of Texas, L.L.C., No. 19 20506,2021 WL 1882565 (5th Cir. May 11, 2021) upends 20 years of its own precedent and reformulates the seaman status analysis. The plaintiff in the lawsuit was a welder working on a jack up-rig. Sanchez had been onboard the second of two…
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Workplace accidents are normally due to a failure to follow standards set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Every fiscal year, OSHA publishes a list of the Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards to educate employers as to the commonly cited standards so they can “take steps to find and fix recognized hazards addressed…
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In Sanchez v. Smart Fabricators, a unanimous, en banc decision of the 5th Circuit upended existing precedent in greatly narrowing the critical threshold issue of who qualifies as a seaman under the Jones Act. As one of the leading personal injury firms in the nation, and the longest operating in Texas, Abraham Watkins attorneys Benny…
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