Two injured men are suing Fieldwood after blast on Echo platform
Two men injured by an explosion on Fieldwood Energy’s Echo platform in the Gulf of Mexico are suing Fieldwood and another company, alleging that their injuries resulted from negligence by the firms
The two workers, 21-year-old Colte Cahanin and 19-year-old Seth Cormier, were cleaning a heater treater at the platform about 12 miles off the Louisiana coast when it exploded on 20 November.
The foreman on the job, Jerrel Hancock, was killed in the blast. All three worked for Louisiana-based Turnkey Cleaning Services Gulf of Mexico and were carrying out maintenance when the heater treater exploded.
In separate lawsuits filed against Fieldwood Energy, the facility’s owner, and Island Operating Co., which was also contracted to work at the site, Mr Cahanin and Mr Cormier say the companies did not ensure the heater treater was cleared of all flammable materials and gases before they began cleaning the equipment, The Houston Chronicle newspaper reported yesterday.
The lawsuits also accuse Fieldwood of failing to provide a reasonably safe place to work and to ensure that equipment on the facility was maintained and in good working order, the newspaper reported.
“These defendants failed to properly ensure the heater treater was cleared — and in essence turned over a disaster waiting to happen to the Turnkey Cleaning employees,” according to Cahanin’s lawsuit, filed in a Houston-based federal district court and seen by the Chronicle.
The explosion blew Cahanin nearly 15 feet and sent Cormier flying even further, according to attorney Tony Buzbee, who has represented claimants against BP in relation to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and the 2005 BP Texas City refinery explosion.
According to the complaints, Cahanin and Cormier had multiple orthopedic injuries and suffered concussions, while Cahanin also lost complete hearing in one ear and partial hearing in the other.
Fieldwood Energy and Island Operating Co., both based in Houston, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Federal investigators with the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement are probing what caused the fatal blast — an inquiry that could span a year or more.