Explosion and Fire at Wyoming Oil Storage Facility

An explosion at an oil storage site killed three workers early Monday morning, outside of Glenrock, Wyoming. Early reports indicate that the explosion may have been caused by a fuel line that was being installed at the plant. The explosion also caused a serious fire in the area.

The Spence Law Firm is taking immediate steps to investigate the cause of the explosion, as workers and their families will need answers to what happened. Samson Resources Co. is believed to be the owner of the facility, and the injured contract workers were employed by a contractor for Samson.

Monday's explosion shows a continuing need for increased safety for Wyoming's workers. The Spence Law Firm has actively worked to increase workers safety laws in our state, to ensure that employers and facility owners are accountable for their actions, and to protect the rights of workers injured or killed performing dangerous work in Wyoming.

The Wyoming Department of Workforce Services reported last week that the number of occupational fatalities in Wyoming rose to 34 last year – an increase of nearly 79 percent from the year before. Ten of those 34 workplace deaths were in natural resources and mining.

Earlier this year the Wyoming Senate recently defeated a bill that proposed to immunize workers who acted with willful and wanton misconduct in injuring or killing their co-workers on the job. Under the proposed legislation, co-employees or supervisors would only be held accountable if they actually intended to cause a specific injury, while reckless disregard for a fellow worker's safety would have been immunized. The Wyoming AFL-CIO and Wyoming Trial Lawyer's Association, working with Lawyers and Advocates for Wyoming and other workers' rights groups, fought against the anti-worker/anti-workplace safety bill.

L.A.W. director Mark Aronowitz commented: "This bill's defeat is a victory for the people of Wyoming. The Wyoming Senate sent a strong message that industry should not ask for, nor should the legislature grant, immunity for willful and wanton misconduct in reckless disregard for worker safety in Wyoming." This was an important victory for Wyoming workers and those seeking to promote workplace safety and accountability.

The Spence Law Firm has extensive experience in cases involving explosions and fires at industrial plants like the one apparently involved in Monday's incident. For more information about what we do and how we can help, see read more here or call us today, at (844) 447-5497.