Undefeated Midland-Odessa Oilfield Lawyers
Why are more oilfield workers being seriously injured — or killed — in Midland and Odessa, even as injury numbers drop across the rest of Texas? It’s a question we confront case after case, as families turn to us after a rig explosion, oilfield truck crash, or catastrophic accident that never should’ve happened.
The truth is, serious oilfield injuries across Texas have declined by 24% in recent years—but not in the Midland-Odessa region. This high-risk oil patch has seen a sharp increase in life-threatening injuries since the pandemic, now accounting for nearly 30% of all oilfield injuries statewide.
Read on to learn more about the growing threat of Midland oil rig accidents and how our undefeated Midland Oil Rig Accident Lawyers have won Billions for injured workers and their families by standing up to the largest oil and gas corporations in the world.
Midland, Texas Oilfield Injuries and Fatalities Surged in 2024
Since 2022, the number of severe injuries in the Midland-Odessa region has risen 36%, marking a dangerous upward trend. According to severe injury reports from the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), at least 15 oilfield workers suffered serious, life-altering injuries in Midland-Odessa in 2024 alone—up from 12 in 2022 and 13 in 2023.
In 2022, the region experienced an especially deadly year, with five workers tragically killed. In 2023, there were no fatalities, offering a brief but welcome reprieve. However, 2024 saw two lives lost, marking a return to the deadly conditions that continue to plague the area.
While the statistics are troubling, behind every number is a life — someone’s husband, father, or friend—who may never come home after a dangerous day in the oilfield. The increase in serious injuries in Midland-Odessa is not just a trend. It’s a crisis that has ripped apart families in these close-knit communities, leaving them struggling to pick up the pieces after their loved ones are injured or killed.
Where Midland Oilfield Injuries Happen Most Often
The following oilfield service companies have reported multiple severe injury incidents in Midland-Odessa over the last five years:
- Baker Hughes Oilfield Services: 2022, 2024
- Halliburton: 2021, 2022
- New Wave Energy Services: 2022, 2023
- American Cementing: 2022, 2024
- Helmerich & Payne: 2021, 2024
- Sunset Well Services: 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
- Nabors Drilling Technologies USA: Two events in 2024
- Patterson UTI Drilling: Multiple events from 2021–2024
- Independence Contract Drilling: Two events in 2022
- Butch’s Rat Hole and Anchor Services: Two events in 2024
While these companies appear in OSHA reports, they are rarely the only parties responsible when a catastrophic oilfield injury or fatality occurs. Most of these service providers are subcontracted by major oil and gas producers to carry out some of the most dangerous jobs in the industry—including drilling, casing, anchoring, trucking, construction, and workovers.
The biggest beneficiaries of West Texas oil production include:
- Pioneer Natural Resources
- Diamondback Energy
- XTO Energy
- Chevron
- Apache
- ConocoPhillips
- Shell
- Kinder Morgan
These companies have a duty to maintain safe working conditions. Yet after a serious accident, they’ll stop at nothing to use their subcontractors as a shield to avoid responsibility—even though they ultimately control the pace, schedule, and safety culture of the job site.
When safety is ignored or oversight is lacking, it’s the workers—not the operators—who most often pay the price.
Why Midland Oilfield Accidents Keep Climbing
The Midland-Odessa area, like much of the Permian Basin, experiences boom-and-bust cycles driven by consumer demand and nonstop drilling, fracking, and high-risk production. While the oil and gas industry provides high wages and employment opportunities for hundreds of thousands of Texans, boom periods often come with a steep cost: overloaded roads, understaffed worksites, and rushed operations that prioritize speed over safety.
As a result, serious oilfield accidents are far more likely to occur—especially when companies cut corners or push workers past their limits.
Common causes of Midland Oilfield accident include:
- Equipment failures
- Falls from height
- Oilfield truck accidents
- Explosions and blowouts
- Lack of safety oversight from operators
Even without the added risks of long shifts, insufficient training, and aggressive production quotas during boom times, the oilfield remains an inherently dangerous workplace due to the presence of high-pressure equipment, flammable chemicals, and the frequent need to work at heights or navigate treacherous rural roads like “Death Highway” U.S. 285 in extreme environmental conditions.
Common Oilfield Injuries
Oilfield accidents often occur without warning and can leave workers with lasting or even permanent consequences. Victims frequently require extensive medical care, long-term rehabilitation, and, in many cases, lifelong support.
Some of the most common oilfield injuries include:
- Oilfield truck accident injuries: Due to the volume of heavy-duty traffic on rural lease roads, trucking accidents are common in the oilfield. Victims often suffer traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), spinal cord injuries, paralysis, crush injuries, amputations, and multiple fractures.
- Falls from Height: Falls from drilling platforms, derricks, or rig floors can result in broken bones, spinal injuries, internal bleeding, and head trauma.
- Explosion and Equipment Failure Injuries: Blowouts, gas releases, and line ruptures can lead to life-threatening injuries, including blast trauma, shrapnel wounds, and severe burns. Sudden explosions may also cause permanent hearing loss.
- Electrocution Injuries: Contact with energized equipment or downed lines—especially during maintenance or in wet environments—can result in fatal shocks, burn injuries, and cardiac damage.
- Lockout/Tagout Failures: When energy sources are not properly de-energized during maintenance, workers may be exposed to moving machinery, pressurized systems, or electrical currents, leading to crushing, amputation, or fatal injuries.
- Hot Work Injuries: Welding, cutting, and grinding near flammable gases or chemicals can ignite fires or explosions. Victims of hot work accidents often suffer thermal, chemical, or electrical burns.
- Environmental and Chemical Exposure: Just seconds of exposure to hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) gas can be fatal. Long-term contact with hazardous substances such as benzene or drilling mud chemicals can lead to chemical burns, respiratory illness, skin damage, or toxic exposure injuries.
Our oilfield accident lawyers understand exactly what’s at stake after a catastrophic oilfield accident. We know what it takes to secure immediate access to the best medical care available and ensure our clients have the financial resources they need to provide for themselves and their families for the rest of their lives. For us, it’s not just about winning in the courtroom—it’s about making sure you never have to worry about your future ever again.
Who Can Be Held Responsible After an Oilfield Accident?
In our experience, most oilfield accidents are not “just part of the job”—they’re the result of entirely preventable safety failures by subcontractors, operators, and some of the largest oil and gas companies in the world.
Depending on the circumstances of your accident, the following parties may be held legally responsible:
- Oilfield Operators: These are the major oil companies that own or lease the site and set the pace and safety standards for all work performed. When they fail to ensure safe operations, follow industry protocols, or properly oversee subcontractors, they can—and should—be held fully accountable for the consequences.
- Subcontractors: Companies hired to perform high-risk tasks like drilling, casing, trucking, and workovers may be responsible for accidents due to inadequate training, equipment failures, or rushed work.
- Third-Party Equipment Manufacturers: If defective or poorly maintained machinery caused the incident, the manufacturer or distributor may be held accountable for your injuries.
- Site Owners or Leaseholders: When hazardous site conditions contribute to an accident, the landowner or leaseholder may share in the legal responsibility.
- Trucking and Logistics Companies: These parties may be at fault in oilfield trucking accidents involving driver fatigue, improper loading, or failure to follow safety regulations.
There’s a reason OSHA issued more than 316 citations and over $1.4 million in penalties to oil and gas excavation companies in 2024. But a fine from OSHA isn’t justice. When oil companies choose profits over people and put your life at risk, they should be held fully accountable—not just with penalties, but by paying maximum compensation for the harm they’ve caused you and your family.
Our oilfield injury attorneys are here to stand up to these corporate giants and their legal teams, make sure that you receive the justice and compensation you deserve, and force the companies to be safer so that accidents like this don’t happen again.
How We Recover Maximum Compensation Against the Largest Oil and Gas Corporations in the World
At Zehl & Associates, we’ve successfully represented over 1,000 oilfield workers across Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, and beyond—recovering Billions for clients and securing some of the largest oilfield verdicts and settlements in U.S. history, including:
- $100 million for workers severely burned in a West Texas rig explosion
- $90 million for a worker severely burned during a workover — the #1 Oilfield Burn Injury Settlement in U.S. History
- $75 million for clients injured in a high-pressure well blowout
- $67 million for a worker hurt in an oilfield equipment failure
In every case, the company tried to deny responsibility. We didn’t let them.
We know exactly what evidence to preserve, how to expose safety failures, and how to prove the company’s fault under OSHA and American Petroleum Institute standards. We take immediate action, work with the country’s top oilfield experts, and prepare every case for trial from day one.
Oil and gas companies know that once our attorneys are involved, they only have two options: fully compensate our client and their family—or face a record-setting verdict at trial.
Because standing up for our clients means more than just winning in court, we also help with reasonable living expenses while their case is pending, connect them with the best medical specialists on the Gulf Coast, and provide 24/7 support every step of the way.
We’re proud to currently represent two oilfield workers injured in separate rig accidents in Texas. If your family is facing the aftermath of a preventable tragedy, we’re ready to stand up, fight, and win for you too.
Undefeated Midland Oil Rig Accident Lawyers: 432-220-0000 for a Free Consult
With Billions in settlements and verdicts and the #1 largest oilfield accident recoveries in US history, our Midland Oil Rig Injury Lawyers have repeatedly demonstrated that we don’t just win for injured oil field workers — we recover record-setting verdicts and settlements.
If you or a loved one were injured in an oilfield accident, contact our Undefeated Oilfield Injury Lawyers for a Free Consultation at 432-220-0000 or send us a confidential email through our Contact Form.
We’ll answer your questions, explain your rights and options, and provide you with the information you need to decide what’s best for you and your family.
All consultations are free and completely confidential, and you won’t pay us a dime unless we win your case.