A 31-year-old woman died tragically on Friday, following an accident at the ExxonMobil refinery in Beaumont, Texas.
Yesenia Espinoza, a single mother to two little girls, was killed after a pipe fell and struck her on the head.
Espinoza was employed by Echo Maintenance, LLC, which was performing construction at the refinery when she was killed. The Port Arthur-based contractor performs maintenance and construction at petrochemical and chemical refineries in Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico.
Contractor Left Behind Two Daughter, Ages 1 and 6
ExxonMobil shut down the construction project on Friday, and all maintenance was halted at the facility. However, production at the Beaumont refinery was not affected by the accident.
Espinoza resided in Baytown and leaves behind two daughters, ages 1 and 6. Her family has established a GoFundMe account to help cover her funeral expenses.
“She was so empowering, she was very strong and honest…my aunt is a once in a lifetime type of woman,” her niece told 12News. “She protected her family with all her might and was willing to give her life for the sake of her two daughters.”
Fire Broke Out at ExxonMobil Beaumont Refinery Just Days Earlier
Just days before Espinoza’s death, a fire broke out in one of two crude distillation units (CDUs) at the same ExxonMobil refinery.
The November 28th incident caused heavy damage to the facility’s 10,000 barrel per day (bpd) CDU, which has been shut down since the blaze.
ExxonMobil’s Beaumont refinery processes more than 362,000 bpd. However, it is currently operating at 110,000 bpd below capacity has a result of last Tuesday’s fire.
Accidents Plague ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge Refinery
Two incidents have been reported at ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge, Louisiana refinery over the past year.
On November 1st, an early morning fire in an unspecified unit forced ExxonMobil to shut down the Baton Rouge refinery’s 210,000 barrel-per-day CDU, Pipestill 10, for several hours.
Nearly a year earlier, on November 22, 2016, an explosion at the same refinery left six workers injured, including four who suffered critical burns.
ExxonMobil was fined a total of $165,000 by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in connection with the explosion.
The OSHA fines included a $12,675 penalty for each of 8 violations deemed serious, as well as a $63,000 penalty for the refinery’s failure to carry out external visual and ultrasonic inspections of the refinery’s piping.
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