Crane Boom Crushes Port Arthur, Texas Motiva Refinery Contract Worker

A crane boom snapped and fell at 8:30 a.m. yesterday, crushing a man to death who was working on a $7 billion refinery expansion project in Port Arthur, Texas.  The fatal accident occured at Motiva Enterprises LLC's 285,000 barrel-per-day refinery.  Motiva is doubling its crude oil processing capacity to 600,000 barrels.  The expansion project is expected to be completed in 2012.  Motiva Enterprises is a joint venture between Shell and Saudi Aramco.  This is the first fatality at the plant expansion since August 2007, when a worker died in an accident involving a bulldozer in the project to divert Alligator Bayou around the area designated for the expansion.

The unfortunate contractor has not yet been identified by local authorities, but it is know that he worked for BECON Construction, a subsidiary of Bechtel, the largest U.S. engineering company.  The employee of Becon Construction Company, Inc. was working as part of the Bechtel-Jacobs joint venture constructing the Motiva expansion.

The refinery is currently being expanded to be able to process 600,000 barrels per day of oil. The expansion will add 325,000 bpd of crude processing capacity and is expected to be completed in early 2012.

Federal investigators from OSHA are on hand to investigate the cause of the accident at the Motiva refinery along with the Jefferson County, Texas sheriff's department. 

Texas continues to lead the nation in workplace fatalities.  In 2008, Texas suffered 457 workplace deaths among 5,071 nationwide.  In 2007, Texas had 528 workplace deaths of 5,657 nationwide.  Schechter, McElwee, Shaffer & Harris, LLP has over 45 years of experience handling multi-party Texas Refinery Accident and Death Claims.  We are here to help hard-working men and women and their families obtain the best result possible considering tragic circumstances.  For assistance with a case or for help with a legal question, email us today at info@smslegal.com.