MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — A spark from a natural gas drilling operation in north-central West Virginia ignited methane gas several hundred feet underground early Friday, sending up a fireball and triggering a blaze that officials said burned for about an hour on the floor of the rig.
Three workers were injured, two seriously enough to be airlifted to a hospital after the fire at the Antero Resources site near Sycamore in Harrison County. The fire was quickly extinguished and the well pad was in a rural area, so it posed no danger to the public.
Two victims were flown to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, said Sgt. Heather Mick of the Harrison County 911 Center. A third was transported by ambulance.
Their conditions weren’t immediately available, but state Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Tom Aluise said one had returned to the job site by 9 a.m.
Workers were in the early stages of drilling a Marcellus shale gas well, Aluise said. The drill was about 400 feet deep when they began to withdraw it, creating a spark that ignited the methane. That created more of a fireball than an explosion, he said.
The accident happened at the Cottrill No. 3 well on Antero’s Southern pad, and Aluise said the crew doing the work was with Hall Drilling LLC of Ellenboro.
Neither Hall Drilling nor Colorado-based Antero immediately returned messages Friday.
Aluise said Antero voluntarily shut down the operation, and a DEP investigation is under way.
If you or your loved one has been injured due to negligence or willful violation of safety regulations in the workplace, it is important to act quickly to protect your claim. Mr. Robinette has handled hundreds of cases involving serious injury and wrongful death and can provide the insight you need right now. Call Jeff Robinette today for a free evaluation of your case at 304-594-1800 or after hours, 304-216-6695. For more information about workplace injury claims, click this link to visit our website.
Thanks to the development of the Marcellus Shale oil and gas drilling in West Virginia and the hard-working employees and contractors who have made this local explosion of industry possible, West Virginians can look forward to more opportunity and prosperity in the Morgantown, WV and Fairmont, WV area than ever before.
West Virginia workers have had a long-standing tradition of persevering and working hard in spite of dangerous and exhausting conditions. Just as our coal miners have always faced the potential of industrial accidents, oil and gas drilling workers are also experiencing accidents resulting in serious permanent injuries and wrongful death.
Risk factors for oil and gas workers may include: explosion, work place injuries, truck accidents, serious and catastrophic injuries, exposure to hazardous chemicals, industrial accidents involving heavy tools and complex equipment, contaminated air and water, hazardous driving conditions, fires, burns, malfunctioning equipment, and safety violations. Driving to and from the drilling site has become a major risk factor: one-third of all serious accidents and fatalities linked to fracking occur from trucking accidents.
In most cases, a worker who is injured on the job will be able to receive some benefits from a Worker’s Compensation claim. In West Virginia, if employer is found to have intentionally placed their employee in harm’s way, resulting in serious injury or death, that employee may qualify to file a claim against the employer’s insurance company.
If you or your loved one has been injured due to negligence or willful violation of safety regulations in the workplace, it is important to act quickly to protect your claim. Mr. Robinette has handled hundreds of cases involving serious injury and wrongful death and can provide the insight you need right now. Call Jeff Robinette today for a free evaluation of your case at 304-594-1800 or after hours, 304-216-6695. http://www.robinettelaw.com
Was your shoulder hurt in an accident in West Virginia (WV)?
Many people suffer from shoulder pain either immediately or shortly after a car wreck, motorcycle, or bike accident, slip and fall, or after having been hurt in a work accident. The severe trauma to the shoulder joint caused the impact of an accident can result in several different types shoulder injuries.
The shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint with three main bones: the upper arm bone (humerus), collarbone (clavicle), and shoulder blade (scapula). These bones are held together by muscles, tendons, and ligaments. The shoulder joint has the greatest range of motion of any joint in the body. Because of this mobility, the shoulder is more likely to be injured, especially the acromioclavicular (AC) joint, which lays over the top of the shoulder.
Common shoulder injuries you may experience after an accident
Rotator cuff tear: the most common shoulder injury after an accident is a stretching, tear, or rip in the tendons and ligaments in the shoulder joint. The shoulder has three separate joints, and any of these joints can be separated, causing extreme pain and loss of movement.
Fractured bone
Bruises
Strains and sprains
Frozen shoulder
Common symptoms of shoulder injury
Painfully tender, stiff shoulder that hurts more at night and may interrupt sleeping
Tingling, numbness, weakness, or swelling in shoulder
Shoulder pain in a specific spot that may worsen with exertion
Difficulty moving arm in any direction without pain
Sudden, intense pain in shoulder area
Pale, blue or otherwise discolored shoulder area
What type of treatment will I need?
If you suspect a broken bone or tear resulting from your accident, seek medical care immediately. Do not move the shoulder; stabilize its position.
Shoulder injuries can be accurately diagnosed by an orthopedic doctor through tests such as x-rays, CAT scans, MRIs, and clinical evaluation.
The remedy may be as simple as the use of a sling to immobilize your arm and rest your shoulder to promote healing and reduce pain.
Elevation, compression, and ice may also aid healing.
A torn muscle or ligament or tendon may require prompt surgery, so an early diagnosis is essential for maximizing your recovery.
Pain can be coming from somewhere else in your body (referred shoulder pain), so accurate, as well as early, diagnosis is essential.
Physical therapy
Surgery
Frozen Shoulder
A frozen shoulder usually begins when injury or overuse causes pain that, in turn, limits the shoulder’s range of motion. Common conditions that cause pain in the shoulder are bursitis or a tear in the rotator cuff.
If you don’t move your shoulder much at all for many weeks, the tissue surrounding the shoulder joint thickens and shrinks. It loses its ability to stretch. When you try to move it even a little, it hurts. So to avoid the pain, you move the shoulder even less. As a result, the joint capsule stiffens even further. It’s a vicious cycle.
A frozen shoulder can take months to develop. The cornerstone of treatment is physical therapy. At first, you’ll concentrate on exercises that stretch the joint capsule. Then you’ll move on to strengthening exercises.
Full recovery can take several months or even longer. If you don’t improve steadily, go back to your doctor or consult a shoulder expert. In rare cases, a frozen shoulder that doesn’t respond to the treatments I’ve discussed may require surgery.
It wasn’t my fault — how am I going to pay for treatment?
If a combination of home treatment and physical therapy does not help your shoulder injury, shoulder surgery may be required. Surgery is not only expensive, but will require recovery time away from your workplace, limitations on your daily activities, and time and money spent on physical therapy and doctor’s visits. If your shoulder has been injured due to someone else’s carelessness or negligence, please contact our office for a free consultation to determine the best course for obtaining the financial resources needed to pay for your treatment and lost wages.
Submitted by theRobinette Legal Group, PLLC, West Virginia Workplace Injury/Wrongful Death Lawyers. Call us today: 304-216-6695 or 304-594-1800 for your free copy of Righting the Wrong: WV Serious Injury Guide or Collision Care: WV Auto Collision Injury Guide. These books will answer your questions concerning negotiations with the insurance companies.
The United States Army has determined that over 220,000 soldiers have sustained some degree of traumatic brain injury during the last ten years from exposure from explosions. To help diagnose and subsequently treat such wounds, the U.S. military and private sector partners developed and deployed devices in 2011 that measure explosion severity. Soldiers wear the watch-sized dosimeter on their chests, heads, and shoulders to measure acceleration and pressure, letting medics evaluate risk by color-coded lights triggered on the meters by a blast.
If you or a loved one has recently suffered a head injury in an accident in West Virginia due to someone else’s negligence, get checked out by a qualified medical specialist. If you are concerned about brain injury, talk to a West Virginia brain injury attorney at the Robinette Legal Group to discuss possible legal action to pursue compensation for the medical treatment, financial losses and lifetime of care. As former insurance defense attorneys, we know how easy it is for insurance companies to claim the victim isn’t really suffering the effects of brain damage.
Our Morgantown and Preston County TBI lawyers have experience representing clients in significant brain injury claims. We know what juries will be looking for in the way of evidence to prove your case. Our firm offers the professional and independent resources to handle the medical complexities of serious brain injury cases.
Traumatic Brain Injuries can result from car, truck, motorcycle, and bike accidents, sports injury, falls, work accidents, and from impact during explosions. If research by the Army and Cleveland Clinic is successful, then diagnosis for brain injury could include an inexpensive blood test. Medical researchers are developing a test that will determine the presence of a protein that is released into the bloodstream after a person suffers a brain injury.
Researchers are currently testing their findings by analyzing the blood of college football, hockey, and soccer players to diagnose concussions. Current methods of diagnosing brain injury involve the use of a CT scanner. These scans are expensive and may also fail to detect slight bleeding and other signs of a brain injury.
Research indicates that the potential for serious lifelong traumatic brain injury is increased greatly if a subsequent head injury occurs a short time after a concussion, so a quick and inexpensive means of determining mild brain injuries could be a lifesaver for military personnel, workers, children, and sports participants.
Contact a Morgantown TBI Attorney
If you or a loved one has recently suffered a head injury in an accident, get checked out by a qualified medical specialist. If you are concerned about brain injury, talk to a West Virginia brain injury attorney at the Robinette Legal Group to discuss possible legal action to pursue compensation for the medical treatment, financial losses and lifetime of care. As former insurance defense attorneys, we know how easy it is for insurance companies to claim the victim isn’t really suffering the effects of brain damage.
Our Morgantown and Preston County TBI lawyers have experience representing clients in significant brain injury claims. We know what juries will be looking for in the way of evidence to prove your case. Our firm offers the professional and independent resources to handle the medical complexities of serious brain injury cases. Please visit our web site or call 1-304-594-1800.
If you have been involved in a serious car crash, it is important that you follow the advice of the EMS personnel and get immediate medical attention, even if you aren’t certain you have been injured.
After an accident, many auto accident victims make the mistake of trying to minimize the ordeal they have just experienced. The attention a car accident generates can be embarrassing as well as traumatic. Many people just want to go to the comfort of home as quickly as possible rather than continuing this major interruption to their life by spending four hours or more at an emergency room.
If you were involved in a car accident and initially refused medical evaluation and treatment, you may be surprised by symptoms showing up later. Adrenaline can mask physical symptoms in the minutes following an accident, and some injuries such as back pain and head trauma don’t reveal themselves until hours or days later.
A thorough medical evaluation can diagnose and treat internal injuries that could save your life, and early treatment could improve your chance of a full recovery. Having a doctor’s evaluation of the car accident’s impact on your overall health will also assist you in knowing whether you need to file an insurance claim for damages, future treatment, and lost wages.
Even if you refused medical treatment immediately after your car accident, and you discover injuries days or weeks after the crash, you could still have a personal injury case. Please contact Morgantown car accident lawyers at the Robinette Legal Group to learn more.
On Tuesday, November 15, 2011, local police departments were recognized by AAA for their efforts in improving traffic safety. Morgantown, Granville, Star City and Westover police departments; Monongalia, Marion, Preston and Taylor county sheriff ’s departments, and state police in Fairmont were all awarded the Platinum Award.
Gold award recipients included: Grafton, Kingwood and WVU police departments and State Police in Morgantown.
Monongah and Barrackville police departments won silver awards and the Masontown Police Department received a bronze award.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — A spark from a natural gas drilling operation in north-central West Virginia ignited methane gas several hundred feet underground early Friday, sending up a fireball and triggering a blaze that officials said burned for about an hour on the floor of the rig.
