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Explosion fatalities first of kind for oil companyBy Nikki Davis Maute
Three employees who died in an explosion near Raleigh on Monday were the first fatalities reported by the Columbia oil field services company where the men worked.
“We’ve never had this happen before, and we opened in 1980,” said Horace English, manager of Stringer’s Oilfield Service Inc. “It was just a freak accident. We’ve done that kind of job a million times.”
The three workers were preparing an empty petroleum tank to hold oil from an adjacent well. Two other nearby tanks that were thought to be empty exploded after apparently being ignited by a spark from a welding machine.
Killed in the accident were Nicholas Wayne Pounds, 23, of Foxworth; Kody Scarborough, 18, of Foxworth; and George B. Jefferson, 53, of Columbia.
The surviving crew member, Huey Duncan, 72, of Columbia, was listed in stable condition at Wesley Medical Center in Hattiesburg on Tuesday.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Web site says that the oil services industry in Mississippi has had eight fatalities in the last 10 years. Stringer’s was not among the companies that had fatalities.
Nationwide during the same time period, OSHA said, 404 fatal accidents were reported.
Several state and federal agencies – including OSHA, the Mississippi Oil and Gas Board, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board and the state Fire Marshal’s Office – are investigating the explosion.
John Parker, a board member with the state Oil and Gas Board, expects a report at the board’s June 21 meeting. But federal investigations are expected to take longer.
Clyde Payne, who heads Jackson’s OSHA office, said it could take up to six months to complete the agency’s investigation. OSHA can and does issue civil citations and fines if a company involved in an investigation violates OSHA rules.
In the eight fatal accidents OSHA reported since 1996, six of the companies were cited for OSHA violations.
Mississippi companies listed by OSHA included T.K. Stanley Inc., two deaths; Rapad Oil Field Services, one death; Rapad Drilling & Well Services Inc., one death; D&D Drilling and Exploration Inc., one death; Coastal Petroleum Services Inc., one death; Well Data Services, one death; and Triple S Well Service Inc., one death.
A spokesman for the federal Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said a decision will be made after a preliminary review of the Raleigh explosion to determine if the agency will investigate further
.Among the factors that will determine whether the agency does a full investigation, spokesman Sandy Gilmore said, is whether there are lessons to be learned and if the results could have a relevance to the rest of the industry.
Originally published June 7, 2006
