helicopter crash – Officer of the Watch

Fatal Injuries in Offshore Oil and Gas Operations US 2003–2010

During 2003–2010, the U.S. oil and gas extraction industry (onshore and offshore, combined) had a collective fatality rate seven times higher than for all U.S. workers (27.1 versus 3.8 deaths per 100,000 workers). The 11 lives lost in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion provide a reminder of the hazards involved in offshore drilling. To identify risk factors to offshore oil and gas extraction workers, US CDC analyzed data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), a comprehensive database of fatal work injuries, for the period 2003–2010. The following findings of US CDC report describe the results of that analysis, which found that 128 fatalities in activities related to offshore oil and gas operations occurred during this period. Transportation events were the leading cause (65 [51%]); the majority of these involved aircraft (49 [75%]). Nearly one fourth (31 [24%]) of the fatalities occurred among workers whose occupations were classified as “transportation and material moving”.

On December 8, 2004 the M/V Selendang Ayu, a Malaysian bulk carrier, ran aground off the coast of Unalaska Island in western Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. The grounding caused the ship to break in half and resulted in an oil spill of approximately 336,000 gallons of fuel oil and diesel fuel that led to an environmental cleanup lasting until June 2006. During the rescue operations a coast guard helicopter crashed and six of the vessel’s crew died just moments after being rescued, while the last persons onboard the ship, the master and a rescuer, watched a few minutes later the ship breaking in half.