Port Allen Refinery Accident Lawyer

Louisiana’s factory workers, refinery workers, and other workers in heavy industry drive our state’s economy. However, there are times when their employers, such as the Port Allen refinery company, Placid, that treat their workers a bit more cavalierly than they should.

Placid is a privately-held refining company that purchased its current refinery in Port Allen in 1975. At that facility, the company converts crude oil into a number of petroleum products, such as gasoline, ethanol, jet fuel, and diesel. They’re one of the largest employers in the Port Allen area, and distribute their fuel across the Southeast, as well as to the U.S. military.

Tragedy Strikes at the Placid Refinery in Port Allen, LA

On March 2, 2016, one third-party contractor died and another suffered a traumatic brain injury after an accident at the Placid Refinery. Both men experienced this devastating tragedy after breathing argon attached to their airline respirators while replacing a pump.

Argon is a colorless, odorless gas that is not toxic. However, when the workers breathed it instead of oxygen, they suffered asphyxiation that killed one and put the other in the hospital. Even the worker that survived suffered memory loss and other complications from breathing the argon gas.

These workers donned their respirators, implicitly trusting that they were hooked up to oxygen. Because argon is inert, their bodies weren’t able to detect that they were being suffocated until it was too late. If their respirators had been properly prepared, they wouldn’t have been hurt.

Other Injuries at Placid

While the 2016 incident is the most recent, the Placid plant has been the site of other worker injuries too, including asbestos inhalation leading to mesothelioma and others.

Causes of Refinery and Industrial Plant Accidents

Due to the dangerous nature of most refinery and plant jobs in Louisiana, injuries and accidents are fairly common at them. Industrial workers are subjected to dangerous chemicals, heavy equipment, fast-moving machine parts, and more hazards daily, which is why there are federal and state laws mandating certain safety protocols for refineries and other sites of heavy industry.

Some of these accidents truly are accidents—the results of cruel fate and a confluence of random factors conspiring to waylay a hapless factory employee. However, many industrial accidents are preventable consequences of negligence, either by management, fellow workers, or other parties:

• Chemical spills
• Slips and trips
• Plant explosions and fires
• Exposure to toxic substances
• Machinery malfunctions
• Over-exertion, muscle strains or sprains, or other injuries due to overwork
• Crashes and collisions with other workers, machinery, and heavy objects

Industrial Plant Injuries

The injuries industrial workers sustain can be much more serious than those in other workplaces. When a factory or refinery owner fails to maintain proper safety protocols, workers can be seriously injured by their negligence. Here are some of the more common injuries our refinery injury clients have experienced:

• Spinal cord damage caused by crashes, falls, and crushes, which can cause partial or total paralysis that can require expensive assistive devices, ongoing therapy, and more.
• Fires, chemical exposure, and explosions can cause severe burns, intense pain, and even disfigurement.
• Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and other head injuries, caused by hard blows to the head and related accidents, are extremely serious injuries that can cause permanent disability, personality changes, and death.
• Broken bones and back injuries are fairly common in industrial settings. They can be caused by repetitive heavy lifting, heavy machinery falling on a worker, crushes between equipment, and other accidents, and can range from temporarily uncomfortable to extremely painful, requiring multiple surgeries and long-term therapy.
• Blindness and other impaired vision injuries can be devastating, and are usually caused by poor safety protocols.
• Limb amputations and other catastrophic injuries can be caused by explosions, crashes, equipment malfunction, and other accidents. Not only is the loss of a limb physically devastating—it can take quite the toll on the victim’s psyche, as they must re-learn how to navigate the world less a limb.

Injured at the Placid Port Allen Refinery? Get Gordon Today

If you or a loved one has been injured while working at the Placid refinery, or experienced another refinery or industrial injury in Louisiana, you need legal representation that can stand up to your employer. Gordon McKernan Injury Attorneys have 679+ years of combined legal experience helping Louisiana workers recover over $3 Billion in compensation they need to survive from the companies and individuals liable for their injuries.

Give the experienced Louisiana personal injury lawyers at Gordon McKernan Injury Attorneys a call when you’ve been injured at work. We provide free legal consultations and will get started on your case right away. Plus, we promise that we won’t charge you a dime until we win or settle your case, that’s the G Guarantee.