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Were you or someone you love hurt working on an oil or gas site?

If you were hurt on a rig, a well pad, or anywhere in the oilfield, you are in the right place.

Are you in an emergency right now?

  • Check yourself and others for injuries and exposure to gas.
  • Call 911 if anyone is hurt or the site is not safe.
  • Move to fresh air and away from the hazard if you can do it safely.
  • Get medical care even if you feel fine.
  • This page is for after you are safe.

This page covers oilfield injury claims and what to do right now. We are the injured person's advocate. We connect you with a lawyer who handles cases like yours, so you get the full settlement your recovery deserves. Always free. Talk to an advocate. We usually reply within minutes, at most one business day.

Why oilfield injuries are tricky

Two things make oilfield cases harder than most other work injury cases.

Oil and gas extraction (OGE) workers face fatal injury rates that have historically been about seven times higher than the rate for all U.S. workers combined (CDC/NIOSH, MMWR Surveillance Summary). Motor vehicle crashes, being struck by equipment, and explosions are the leading causes of death on site (CDC MMWR).

One well site can also have many separate companies working on it at once, sometimes called the contractor web: a lease holder, an operator, a drilling contractor, a well consultant, and equipment or mud suppliers, all as separate businesses (Center for Public Integrity investigation). Research on oilfield fatalities found roughly three out of four deaths happened to contractor employees, not workers employed directly by the well operator (CDC/NIOSH study). Your employer is usually not the only company responsible. Write down every company you saw on site so your lawyer can identify who is responsible. If you were hurt at work in any industry, our work injury guide covers general first steps.

What real oilfield cases have paid

These are publicly reported results. They show how widely serious cases vary. They are examples only. No one can promise or predict what any case is worth, and many cases resolve for far less.

We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Oilfield injuries can carry serious lifetime costs, and the system can pay for them when a case is handled well and every responsible company is identified.

When it goes wrong: a true story

Gregory Claxton was an Iraq War veteran working as a gauger, checking oil tank levels, near Forestburg, Texas. In February 2015 he was killed by hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a poisonous gas that can build up around oil tanks. His parents reached a settlement with his direct employer, Twin Eagle Transport. But years later they were still fighting a separate case against the company that operated the wells, EOG Resources, arguing that basic safety steps could have prevented his death (Center for Public Integrity investigation).

When several companies share a job site, a claim rarely ends with the first check. Write down every company on site early, and talk to an advocate who can help identify every responsible party.

Protect your case

  1. Report the injury to your direct employer in writing and keep a copy.
  2. Ask which company operates the well site, since that may not be your employer.
  3. Write down every company you saw working on site: drilling crew, service trucks, consultants, and suppliers.
  4. Keep every paper: incident reports, medical records, pay stubs showing missed work, and any safety citations tied to the site.
  5. Warning: don't wait! Your filing deadline is a trap, and missing it can end your claim. Oilfield cases can also involve federal or maritime rules for offshore work, so do not assume the standard state rule applies. Find your state on our state pages now.
  6. Talk to an advocate at WeHelpInjured. It is free.

Never do these

What we can help with

We help you understand what happened and who was on site, in plain language. We make sense of your state's filing deadline and which rules apply, and we connect you with a lawyer who handles cases like yours. All of it is free to you.

Talk to an advocate. Start the form or open the chat.

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