Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
When people think of the Jones Act and the benefits it offers to maritime workers, they often think of crews on commercial fishing vessels, oil platforms, barges, and jack-up rigs. These may be the most well-known in the offshore industry, but there are other maritime workers who are at just as high of a risk of harm and who need the protection that the Jones Act and other applicable laws have to ...
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Maritime workers have dangerous jobs. They work on vessels in the open sea, where access to emergency assistance is not always fast or guaranteed. One of the most prominent dangers they face, ironically, involves drilling for emergencies. Lifeboat drills in particular are notoriously hazardous for the workers who perform them. Crew members have been catastrophically injured and lost their lives ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
While Louisiana’s offshore industry is known thanks to the state’s oil industry, not every Louisianan offshore worker is on an oil rig. In fact, many residents of Louisiana are employed on one of the state’s many riverboat casinos. Louisiana is known for its riverboat casinos, which are old-fashioned paddlewheel boats like you might see in a Western movie or television show. Many of today's ...
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According to Rule 5 of the Amalgamated International & U.S. Inland Navigation Rules, “Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision.” Keeping a proper lookout is one of the most basic rules of ...
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When the United States shut down in March of 2020, no one really knew how long closures would last or what impact they would have. Workers in every industry were affected, but offshore crews faced unique challenges due to the nature of their jobs and their work environments—where social distancing was nearly impossible. Oil and gas companies were forced to delay turnarounds and postpone new ...
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A pipeline break has sent oil spilling into the Pacific Ocean off the Southern California coast, posing a threat to wildlife and residents. Cleanup and response efforts are underway to try to minimize the damage. On Saturday, October 2, 2021, an oil pipeline that runs from the offshore platform Elly to the Port of Long Beach started to leak. The breach occurred about 5 miles from the Huntington ...
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Mooring operations are some of the most important jobs offshore crew members perform. They are also one of the most difficult and dangerous. If proper safety protocols are not followed, workers are at risk of suffering severe injuries that can even be fatal. What Is a Mooring Operation? A mooring operation describes the task of attaching a vessel to a stationary object. Mooring operations can ...
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The Gulf of Mexico is filled with lift boats, jack-up rigs, drilling rigs, and platforms. These vessels are all necessary for the retrieval of gas and oil from the region's rich mineral deposits. To transfer workers to and from their jobsites, many companies use personnel baskets or Billy Pugh baskets to get the job done. As any worker who has been involved in such transfers can tell you, these ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
Falling overboard is the second most common cause of death for fishermen. Between 2000 and 2014, 210 fishermen died after falling overboard. None of them were wearing lifejackets or any type of personal flotation device (PFD). Despite this fact, there are no requirements or regulations for fishermen to wear PFDs while working—making deadly accidents more likely in an industry that already has a ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
Roustabouts are maintenance workers who focus on making sure oil and gas rigs are running safely and as expected. They are essentially the “boots on the ground,” responsible for making sure oil wells are operating efficiently and constantly. As a result, a roustabout’s duties are often flexible and varied, ranging from sweeping the floors of the rig to handling dangerous chemicals. Some common ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
When workers sustain offshore injuries, defense attorneys often try to limit their ability to recover losses by asserting that they were injured before the accident. They argue that preexisting conditions can exasperate injuries caused by accidents and, as a result, mitigate or eliminate a company’s responsibility to provide compensation for them. Using pre-existing medical conditions as a defense ...
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Posted By Arnold and Itkin, LLP
When vessels are navigating inland waterways, there’s a set of right-of-way rules that they’re supposed to follow. These rules, commonly known as the Rules of the Road, dictate how vessels should behave when crossing paths. The term “rules of the road” is used because the process is similar to the way that cars behave at unmarked intersections. The Rules of the Road are published by the United ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
The American offshore industry is no stranger to aging vessels. Experts say that vessels are going to start retiring faster than the rate they can be replaced. Because of this, it’s fair to assume that many older vessels will be at sea for longer than they should be. Not only are aging ships an economic setback, but they also pose a risk to maritime workers. Offshore workers who are employed on ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
Offshore oil and gas production is complex, involving many different players and facets. Essentially, the industry involves two main tasks: extracting the materials and transferring them to a refinery to be prepared for sale. These tasks involve two main types of different yet equally important equipment: vessels and platforms (also called rigs). Platforms are stationary structures while vessels ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
Recently, two incidents involving storms and offshore work have grabbed headlines. The first incident occurred last fall when the Deepwater Asgard was left in the path of a hurricane despite pleas from the crew and warnings from weather experts. The incident was harrowing and resulted in an experience that some of the crew members will forever be traumatized by. The second incident resulted in ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
Most people associate the Jones Act with hazardous conditions and accidents that injure seamen. For decades, the Jones Act has held employers accountable for failing to provide a safe work environment. While the Jones Act covers accidents like falls, explosions, toxic exposure, and other dangerous situations, many offshore workers don’t realize they might be able to recover damages after being ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
One of the easiest ways to keep ships and their crewmembers safe from hurricanes and strong tropical storms is by making sure they don’t have to be in them at all. This is where the Mariner’s 1-2-3 rule comes in. The Mariner’s 1-2-3 rule helps vessel navigators avoid encountering a dangerous storm because of a weather forecast error. It’s also known as the Danger Zone Rule, and the “1-2-3" part of ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
For centuries, injured seamen had one option after an injury at work: maintenance and cure. This maritime law requires no fault to be proven after an offshore accident for a worker to receive compensation. It only requires that a worker sustained their injuries on the vessel they're employed on or while performing the duties of their job. However, any payment an injured person receives for their ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
Arnold & Itkin Attorneys Kurt Arnold, Caj Boatright, Roland Christiansen, Joseph McGowin, and Claire Traver are currently representing a Texas man who was injured while working offshore. Our client fell over an unmarked hazard on the working surface of the vessel he was aboard, which resulted in severe injuries to his knee and wrist. His injuries could have easily been prevented if his employer ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
Attorneys Kurt Arnold, Caj Boatright, Roland Christiansen, Joseph McGowin, and Claire Traver are currently representing a man injured while working offshore. Our client sustained serious injuries after he was struck in the face by a heavy cable that broke free as he was working. Offshore work takes place in one of the most dangerous settings possible. When employers fail to follow basic safety ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
Understanding how your nationality or the flag of your vessel can affect your ability to file an injury claim starts with understanding the Jones Act and why it was created. Accidents can and often do happen to fishermen, oil rig workers, cruise ship crew members, and other offshore workers. Yet, for many years, injured offshore workers couldn’t recover the compensation that they needed to recover ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
Also known as a whirlpool or an oceanic blackhole, maelstroms are powerful natural phenomena that have struck fear into the hearts of seamen for centuries. A maelstrom is a strong rotational current that’s created when weather and conditions with currents are just right. They occur when opposite currents collide and create a circular vortex. Vikings feared maelstroms because they are large enough ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
Most offshore injury claims come from incidents that occur in the maritime field such as slip and falls, rigging accidents, or other common dangers. However, one of the most dangerous and constant challenges an offshore worker can face is cold exposure. If a maritime worker is exposed to frigid waters, they could suffer from hypothermia, frostbite, or other severe complications. Maritime ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
Imagine the following scenario: Two ships with plenty of space are approaching each other. It’s a clear night, and they see each other fine—both with radar instruments and visually. Equipment for both ships is functioning fine, and multiple officers onboard are on watch (or just observing). Yet, despite all this, the captain of one of the vessels decides to make a turn that puts him in the direct ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
Offshore attorneys at Arnold & Itkin LLP filed suit on behalf of an experienced construction manager hired to work on a platform off the coast of Equatorial Guinea. He was assigned the top bunk of a bed for sleeping, but the platform owner’s failed to provide adequate railing and safeguards with the bunk. The platform owner also ignored our client’s request for a lower bunk. Consequently, our ...
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