Tragically, a fire erupted Tuesday night aboard an offshore oil rig drilling platform owned by Houston’s Transocean Ltd. and leased by BP PLC. As many as 15 oil platform workers were missing as of Wednesday morning, but were being searched for by the U.S. Coast Guard. As many as seven offshore oil rig workers were reportedly critically injured and transported to hospitals in Louisiana and Alabama.

(See remarkable first-hand images from the fire at this link.)

The oil platform fire on the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling platform, anchored off Louisiana’s coast in the Gulf of Mexico 50 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River, reaffirms the enormous dangers and risks to offshore oil rig and oil platform workers. Many oil industry workers labor in some of the most dangerous jobs in America.

Although most of the 126 crew members have been located, and there’s a chance that the missing workers escaped in life boats, the Coast Guard has set up a next-of-kin hotline. Meanwhile, the platform is listing by about 10 degrees, and the fire has not yet been controlled, much less extinguished. Though the platform was engaged in drilling, it was not yet in production of oil.

Oil rig workers or oil platform workers like those on the Transocean platform may be exposed to hazards due to negligence on the part of an operator or owner of a drilling rig or offshore oil platform. These enterprises are designed for drilling in water up to 8,000 feet deep. Once the drill enters the ocean floor, it can drill down into the Earth for more than five miles.

Such projects use massive equipment and are hugely expensive, but that doesn’t mean they can or should cut costs for ensuring the oil platform is safe for its workers. Oil workers should not be considered as “collateral damage” by a monolithic oil company which makes many billions of dollars. Instead, their safety must be assured by the owner or operator of the oil rig or oil platform, or else negligence may exist.

If and when such negligence results in workers’ catastrophic injuries or deaths, an oil rig or oil platform lawsuit may be necessary to protect victims or their survivors financially. They may be due financial compensation, which is often provided under the Jones Act, which secures the rights of workers injured at sea or elsewhere on water.

An oil platform, oil rig, drilling rig or oil refinery accident thus merits scrutiny by an oil accident lawyer or attorney. Such an injury attorney or lawyer can assist and support victims or their families after an oil industry fire or explosion by pressing a lawsuit in their behalf, seeking justice in the form of fair economic recovery for victims’ medical costs, lost salary and pain and suffering.

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