Embattled Texas Oilfield Waste Company Fined After Worker’s Death

Editor s Note This article originally appeared at Inside Environment News a nonprofit independent news organization that covers situation resource and the milieu It is republished with permission Sign up for their newsletter here By the time exigency health providers reached McBride Operating in Waskom Texas a small town near the Louisiana limit it was too late Pedro Julian Garcia a father of two died after being struck by a pump valve at the oilfield waste company on the night of Feb Occupational Safety and Physical condition Administration OSHA inspectors later unveiled McBride had not adequately trained Garcia They uncovered a host of other problems from hazardous extension cords to missing safety paperwork McBride headquartered in Longview paid over in fines to OSHA for a dozen workplace safety violations and separately settled a civil lawsuit filed by Garcia s family McBride s operations had already generated debate in the tiny town Garcia s death is one in a series of worker safety and environmental incidents in the five years McBride has operated in Waskom Pedro Leyva an attorney with Glasheen Valles and Inderman Injury Lawyers who represented Garcia s family called McBride a bad operator with aging equipment held together by Band-aid fixes in an interview Prior to the fatality McBride settled another lawsuit in with another employee who sustained two on-the-job injuries Neither party admitted wrongdoing Photos OSHA Harrison County Sheriff s Office Charlie Rose a spokesman for McBride Operating described Garcia s death as a heartbreaking loss Rose noted McBride is deeply committed to safety compliance and operational excellence across all of our facilities He declined further comment on the accident The Railroad Commission of Texas a state agency that oversees oil and gas facilities in Texas has separately documented dozens of violations of its rules at the McBride facility in Waskom including improper disposal of waste and spills of hazardous materials There were so multiple problems that earlier this year the agency denied McBride s application to renew its Waskom operating permit But in late July the Railroad Commission and McBride reached a settlement which gave the company days to provide agency staff with an engineering plan to implement the agreed upon remedies Yet even as those problems unfolded the Railroad Commission greenlit expansion by issuing permits for McBride to operate more oilfield waste landfills in the nearby East Texas towns of Paxton and Elysian Fields The oil and gas industry is a major employer in East Texas which is part of the Haynesville shale basin Workers at oilfield waste disposal sites use heavy machinery and can be exposed to dangerous hydrogen sulfide gas Hundreds of trucks passage drilling waste between gas wells and the Waskom facility every day The trucks can be loaded with water or oil-based drilling muds and produced water that comes up during the drilling process The waste can contain benzene toluene ethylbenzene and xylene and other harmful constituents Despite its toxicity oil and gas waste is deemed non-hazardous under the federal Supply Conservation and Recovery Act Once separated liquid waste is injected underground and solid waste is transported offsite to landfills The night of the fatal accident was not the first warning that McBride had a workplace safety trouble On April McBride employee Jaire Jackson climbed into a large fracking waste container known as a frac tank while he was cleaning it Hazardous fumes knocked him unconscious and another worker climbed inside to pull him out Workers are generally prohibited to enter frac tanks because they can be exposed to amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas that exceed OSHA limits and can cause serious injury or death A limited months later on August Jackson was handling a hose connected to a truck delivering waste to McBride The hose blew off the truck spraying scalding water and severely burning his right foot Jackson filed a lawsuit against McBride for negligence contributing to his injuries He eventually reached a confidential settlement with McBride We categorically denied the statements and stood firmly by the integrity of our safety practices throughout the process mentioned Rose the McBride spokesperson We firmly disputed Mr Jackson s proposes during the legal proceedings and the parties disagreed over responsibility but we were pleased that the matter was ultimately able to be resolved amicably with him and without admission of wrongdoing by either party Josh Maness a Waskom attorney representing Jackson deposed McBride s operations manager Carrie Dowden in November Dowden explained that McBride employees only receive on the job training and that the facility has no designated safety consultant or coordinator Dowden herself lacked any oilfield experience when she began managing the facility she had previously worked as a bartender Maness also demanded whether McBride had an operations manual Could be Dowden replied There s a lot of manuals in my office When sought about a safety pamphlet she had mentioned Dowden announced the pamphlet could possibly be at her office but warned that it s a mess up there She was equally vague when Maness solicited about attendance lists from any safety presentations Dowden appeared unfamiliar with the OSHA rules that require reporting serious workplace injuries Dowden declared that McBride does not provide any personal protective equipment PPE to its employees Rose disputed several insists from the deposition He stated that McBride maintains operation manuals at all facilities that are regularly reviewed and updated He announced that every employee completes a comprehensive safety orientation including OSHA standards hazard recognition and operational protocols before starting the job Rose also disclosed that McBride provides all required PPE with the exception of work boots and that statements to the contrary are incorrect He attributed the discrepancies to stress from the deposition and natural pressures of the workplace Less than two years later Dowden was being interviewed once again This time it was by OSHA investigators after a workplace fatality Pedro Julian Garcia originally from Chihuahua Mexico lived in Marshall miles west of Waskom on Interstate Highway He began working at McBride in April according to OSHA documents A supervisor inquired Garcia to repair a leaking pump on the night of Feb according to a report he later gave investigators The supervisor claimed he explained Garcia to wait so they could fix the pump together but that Garcia went ahead on his own Garcia did not shut off the pressure to the pump causing the valve to fly off and strike him in the chest according to the supervisor s announcement to OSHA He was declared dead when EMS arrived Funeral services were held in Marshall and he was buried in Mexico according to an online obituary OSHA inspectors arrived the next day to investigate They exposed that McBride did not have a lockout tagout procedure to disable the pump during maintenance There was no operations manual for the pump which had been purchased second-hand Fire extinguishers had not been serviced Electrical cords and hoses presented a tripping hazard And McBride did not keep OSHA logs as required between and Inspectors noted there was not an effective wellness and safety management system Rose the company spokesman disclosed that McBride Operating fully cooperated with OSHA throughout its inspection and conducted a comprehensive internal review to evaluate and strengthen our safety systems He announced that cited issues were addressed and corrective actions taken McBride also settled a lawsuit with Garcia s parents and the mothers of his two young daughters It s an older facility that was in need of everything being replaced revealed Leyva the attorney who represented Garcia s family in the wrongful death incident Since the fatality Rose revealed that McBride has implemented targeted enhancements to safety protocols expanded employee training and increased operational oversight The McBride facility in Waskom remains open as the company works on changes required to renew its Railroad Commission permit The post Embattled Texas Oilfield Waste Company Fined After Worker s Death appeared first on The Texas Observer