Oil and gas exploration and extraction injury deaths: A re-emerging hazard

Background: the oil and gas exploration and extraction industry employs over 300,000 US workers. Historically, the frequency of deaths in this industry has appeared to vary with industry activity. Recent increases in energy commodity demand and prices have fueled major increases in drilling activities in the US. Research questions: Have fatalities in this industry increased recently? If so, what is causing them, and how can hazards be mitigated? Methods: Publicly-accessible US CFOI/BLS and NTOF data were compared with Baker-Hughes drilling data for 1993-2005. Results: There was a correlation observed between drilling activity and mortality during 1993-2005. Most recently, there has been a marked increase in traumatic injury deaths, from 85 deaths in 2003 to 98 deaths in each of 2004 and 2005. Of these 281 most recent fatalities, 39 % were transportation-related, the majority due to motor vehicle incidents on highways, 29% were due to contact with objects and equipment, most frequently via being struck by objects, especially drilling equipment, pipe, tongs, etc., followed by 15% fires and explosions, and 8% each falls and exposure to harmful substances and environments. Annual mortality rates of approximately 30/100,000 workers/year place this industry sector in a high-hazard range along with mining and agriculture. Conclusions: This complex industrial workplace continues to pose hazards to workers. NIOSH has recently begun collaborative research and outreach to industry and NGO leadership, focusing on using existing PPE to prevent motor vehicle and fall deaths, and further examining machinery-related deaths for possible interventions and prevention strategies for those injuries.