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Texas City, Texas – In the quiet morning of May 15th, 2023, a devastating fire broke out at the Marathon Petroleum Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas. Tragically, this incident claimed the life of Scott Higgins, a 55-year-old resident of Deer Park, Texas....
PHOTO: Texas Tribune On Friday, May 5th, a massive chemical fire erupted in an explosion at the Shell Deer Park chemical plant in Deer Park, TX. The incident occurred after a series of self-reported complex malfunctions within the facility, like tripped...
What happens if you are injured because of another person’s or business’ carelessness? They need to be held accountable, and you deserve to be compensated. A knowledgeable and skilled attorney can help. A lawyer can assist you in researching and making the right legal claim to help you win a lawsuit. Hiring the right negligence injury attorney will make the process as painless as possible and make you whole again.
Few things turn life upside-down more completely, or more quickly, than a sudden and serious personal injury. Medical bills quickly pile up when the victim is out of work, and there is no money to pay them. Meanwhile, the insurance company bombards the victim with financial settlement offers which might or might not be fair. Finally, there is the unsettling feeling that, even after the victim recovers, the family’s life might never be the same again.
Texas, particularly its Southeast region, is one of the busiest energy production areas in the country. The Lone Star State has vast petroleum reserves, and the Houston Ship Channel is one of the busiest ports in the country. These companies care a great deal about their bottom lines, but almost nothing about worker safety. To many chemical companies, workers are essentially cogs in a machine and worker safety is an unnecessary cost.
At Williams Hart & Boundas, we care about our bottom line: taking care of our clients. We became attorneys to help people and stand up for their legal rights, not to make money. And we care a great deal about our clients. They are our partners as opposed to our customers. These two attitudes help us achieve results which often exceed our clients’ expectations.
Chemical plants are inherently dangerous simply by nature of the flammable or toxic substances stored and used on site. Plants contain volatile chemicals, like hydrocarbon. These liquids and gases ignite easily under ignition sources, or even the hot Houston sun.
As unexpected as building explosions may be, these sorts of things are quite common at Houston’s chemical plants. These explosions do not just harm employees, but also bystanders and neighbors. Any number of people may suffer serious injuries or death after a chemical plant explosion. But in these cases, how can they recover the damages they suffered?
Texas is a state renowned for its oil and gas industry, and chemical plant refineries are an instrumental link in the chain to getting this lucrative product to market. Houston is a world leader in chemical plant refineries and employs an estimated 100,000 people in the industry. Houston alone accounts for over 40 percent of America’s base petrochemical capacity.
If you or your family member work in a chemical plant, then you will likely know that there are inherent risks involved with being employed in this field. However, it is still the responsibility of the chemical plant refinery, as the employer, to ensure that rigorous safety protocols are in place and that all employees are repeatedly trained to avoid or mitigate any accidents. Outdated protocols, machinery, and unsafe conditions can all result in chemical plant refinery accidents.
Grand Prairie, TX - A plastics manufacturing plant in North Texas caught fire overnight on Wednesday, August 19th. According to authorities, an overhanging powerline fell into plastic sheeting in a storage area, igniting and spreading quickly.
The fire raged through 300-yards of the Poly-America facility at West Marshall Drive near Texas Highway 161 for nearly 24 hours despite assistance from several area fire departments. One rail car exploded and supporting towers for electricity lines are expected to collapse under the heat of the flames. At least three of Poly-America's freight rail cars had caught fire
Wednesday, July 29th -- Firefighters responded to an explosion that occurred around 5 PM at a natural gas facility in Mont Belvieu, located east of Houston. Officials reported that Lone Star NGL, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Energy Transfer LP, exploded when a contractor struck an underground pipeline.
In 2016, two trains collided together in the Texas town of Panhandle. The accident left one employee of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway injured and three others dead. In addition to these tragic losses, the freight train collision caused a massive fire and a noxious black smoke cloud that authorities forced residents in a nearby town to evacuate. But with all the safety regulations and precautions in place, how could such a terrible accident happen?