Most Common Injuries Suffered by Workers After a Refinery Accident

Oil refineries do the following:

• Distilling - Giant towers heat crude oil so it separates by boiling points into groups like gasoline, diesel oil, and heavier oils.

• Cracking - The heavy leftover oils get broken into lighter gases by using intense heat or catalyst chemicals.

• Reforming - Chemical processes rearrange the structures of molecules to make specific chemicals.

• Treating - Impurities like sulfur get removed to meet environmental rules.

Running these processes involves pumping flammable liquids at extreme temperatures and pressures while using toxic catalysts. Refinery units also connect in complex pipe networks carrying hazardous materials. So, risks often include leaks, fires, explosions, and accidental chemical releases.

While safety rules minimize threats, when emergencies occur, workers often get seriously injured by heat, impact, or exposure. And sometimes, refinery accidents lead to death.

Here is a breakdown of the most common refinery accident injuries.

Burn Injuries

Burns are perhaps the most prevalent injuries when disasters strike refineries. Their systems operate at very high temperatures while processing flammable chemicals. And so fires and explosions typically happen during accidents. As a result, workers can suffer severe burns from:

• Direct contact with hot surfaces, flames or explosions
• Splashes of scalding-hot oil onto the skin
• Steam or gases over 1000°F suddenly released
• Flare stacks used for emergency pressure releases
• Intense heat radiation without direct contact

Burns damage skin and the tissues below it. They trigger severe pain signals felt throughout the body via the nervous system. And workers may go into shock immediately after.

There are three burn classifications by severity:

• First Degree - Most minor burns only affect the outer skin layer. Redness, pain, and swelling last about a week before fading.
• Second Degree - Deeper burns that blister the lower skin. They take a few weeks to heal and often scar. Infection risks are higher.
• Third Degree - Most severe. These destroy the full thickness of skin, damaging muscle, fat and even bone underneath. Blood vessels, sweat glands, hair follicles and nerves may be permanently ruined.

Third-degree burns require surgery for skin grafting and leave significant scarring. If covering over 20% of the body area, they can still prove fatal. And healing often continues for several years.

Refinery workers try to avoid burns by wearing protective suits, but accidents happen too fast sometimes. Even far from the flames, severe heat radiation can burn exposed skin in seconds – up to over 100 feet away.

The treatment of burns usually involves IV fluids/medications and skin grafting. And it usually takes over a year to determine the full extent of permanent physical impairment from large burns.

Broken Bones

Another common refinery injury is traumatic bone fractures.

Machinery and structures often collapse when explosions or fires happen. When this happens, heavy falling and moving debris can easily smash limbs. And in most cases, even solid helmets and boots do little against multiple-ton equipment pieces striking someone directly.

Common serious fractures include:

• Leg and Foot Bones - Hit by falling objects, jammed between items
• Ribs and vertebrae - Impacts from explosions, debris, jumps from heights
• Shoulder blades and collarbones
• Facial/skull fractures - No hard hats or falling on the head

Broken bones mean painful bone fragments shift out of position, tearing blood vessels and nerves. Bruising leads to swelling, causing more nerve damage.

Most fractures require a cast or metal screws holding pieces together for many weeks until natural bone growth reconnects them. And shoulder and hip replacement surgeries are often necessary when joints get crushed.

Even after bones heal, there may be lasting arthritis, nerve injuries, and disability. And while physical therapy usually helps some regain lost function, extensive spinal cord damage can result in permanent paralysis.

Hearing Loss & Ear Injuries

Refineries subject workers to frequent loud industrial noise - pumps, turbines, vents hissing steam, metal clanging and grinding vibrations. And ear protection dampens much of this ambient racket.

However, sudden explosions or released gas/fluid pressures produce deafening sound levels that can easily overwhelm earplugs. Generally, decibel levels above 120dB injure inner ear structures that detect sounds. Hair cells and nerve endings get torn by intense air pressure waves. This is something that happens with most refinery disasters – where intense blasts reach 160-180 dB.

Oil refinery workers may experience hearing loss immediately or it may gradually worsen following loud noise exposure. Workers may experience persistent ringing and buzzing inside the ears, which often signals likely auditory damage. And they may also be plagued by dizziness, loss of balance, and headaches.

Unfortunately, modern medicine cannot repair destroyed inner ear components. This means that workers suffering blast exposure face lifelong hearing impairment and chronic discomfort from tinnitus ear noises. Consequently, communication, work abilities, and personal life may degrade without this vital sense.

Respiratory Damage

Toxic smoke inhalation threatens first responders and workers when hydrocarbon explosions and intense fires release clouds of dangerous chemicals. This is especially so because refinery fires give off much thicker smoke than wood or paper burns.

Also, crude oil contains sulfur, heavy metals, and cancer-causing substances that vaporize. This means that most processing chemicals turn into lung poisons when flames break them down or mix them in unpredictable ways.

Gases like chlorine, ammonia, and hydrogen fluoride can also inflict disastrous harm if accidentally inhaled. 50 parts per million of hydrogen fluoride can be lethal.

Some life-threatening breathing hazards that may result from an explosion include:

• Hydrocarbon particles - cling to lung surfaces inflaming tissue, causing fluid build-up
• Acid mists - literally dissolving lung membrane linings, vastly increasing infection risks
• Cyanide and phosgene - chemicals blocking oxygen absorption, causing swift suffocation

The long-term effects of smoke exposure may include asthma, loss of lung capacity, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and cancers like leukemia from benzene. And those who survive chemical lung burns may end up with permanently scarred bronchial tubes that are more vulnerable to pathogens and particulate inhalation.

Exposure to Toxic and Carcinogenic Chemicals

Along with potential disfiguration from burns and broken bones, refinery disasters unleash cancer-causing toxins that may impact workers’ health for decades after accidents.

Crude oil contains dangerous levels of benzene, hydrogen sulfide, mercury, arsenic and lead. Many catalysts and additives used on site like chlorinated solvents and formaldehyde are also highly toxic at even small doses.

Through exposure to various gasses, a worker’s cells may get damaged through:

• Protein structure disruption
• Enzyme function interference
• Membrane leakage
• DNA mutation

While masks, suits, and detectors help avoid contamination, accidents can still cause concentrated exposures. And in most cases, such toxins usually inflict harm before workers can escape.

Preventing Injuries

Modern safety controls and strict procedures make refineries much less dangerous than decades ago. But oilfields never really get completely safe. And so ongoing risks just require managing through layers of planning:

• Thorough staff training and rules enforcement
• Effective maintenance programs
• Usage of protective equipment like fire gear and respirators
• Automating monitoring through gas/smoke detectors and data sensors
• Quick-acting emergency systems like eye wash stations and safety showers
• Strong facility construction via blast-proof walls and pressure relief stacks
• Conducting frequent evacuation drills

When major accidents strike, companies must provide extensive medical care, compensation, and long-term health tracking of all exposed workers. And when they don’t, it isn’t surprising to see injury claims arising from refinery accidents getting filed in court.

In summary, refinery accidents often cause serious injuries to workers through:

• Burn injuries - from explosions, steam releases, and fires
• Broken bones - impacts from heavy falling debris during disasters
• Hearing loss & ear damage - loud blast waves well over 120 decibels
• Lung damage - heat and toxic gas inhalation during intense fires
• Exposure to cancer-causing chemicals released in accidents

Refineries supply essential fuels, lubricants, and materials that society depends on. But keeping these plants running carries substantial personal risks for those working inside them. Modern safety ideas and designs continue decreasing dangers but can never eliminate them completely.