Produced-water systems hide chemical, NORM, and confined-space hazards.
The water produced with oil and gas is treated and disposed of through tanks, pumps, and chemical injection. The work brings chemical exposure, radioactive scale (NORM), and confined-space entry that injure workers out of sight.
Cleaning the water.
Produced-water systems separate, treat, and dispose of the water that comes up with hydrocarbons, using skim tanks, hydrocyclones, filters, pumps, and chemical injection.
Exposed, entered, caught.
Chemical exposure and burns from treatment additives, exposure to naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) in scale and sludge, confined-space hazards entering tanks and vessels, and pump and valve injuries. Inadequate permits and PPE are the recurring failures.
Which law — and who answers.
Production work crosses the line between vessel and platform, so the governing law turns on where you were.
The operator owns process safety on the facility — the design, the mechanical-integrity program, and the procedures. Its non-delegable duties and any retained control carry liability.
The contractor crews that run and maintain the equipment answer for negligent work; the borrowed-employee doctrine sorts out who controlled the job.
A defective separator, compressor, vessel, valve, or relief device supports a products claim, and an unfit system can render a vessel unseaworthy.
On a floater the crew are usually seamen (Jones Act); on a fixed platform the LHWCA/OCSLA and §905(b) vessel negligence apply. The firm preserves whichever route fits (Jones Act vs. workers’ comp).
Sound like your situation? Calling us is confidential, costs nothing, and starts nothing you don’t choose to start.
Text (713) 489-2297We trace the exposure.
The firm reconstructs the chemicals, the entry, and the controls, drawing on the chemical-exposure and occupational-illness analyses.
What the other side will argue.
Expect the familiar moves — the claim that the entry was permitted rather than uncontrolled — alongside the standard fights over seaman status, comparative fault, and surveillance. The full Production defense playbook, with how each argument is met, is set out on our production operations page.
Exposure and entry are permitted and controlled.
Confined-space entry requires a permit, atmospheric testing, and a plan; chemical and NORM handling require controls and PPE. A breakdown leaves a paper trail. The firm proves the standard through a process-safety and industrial-hygiene expert, and the permits, the SDS, the NORM survey, and the monitoring data show what the operator knew. The featherweight causation standard carries causation in exposure cases.
Tank entry and chemical handling are permitted work — an injury usually means the permit and the controls failed.
What to protect first.
For this work the evidence is the permits, the safety data sheets, the NORM survey, and the monitoring data — held by the company and routinely overwritten, so demand preservation in writing before it is lost, and get prompt medical care. The full first-days checklist is on our production operations page.
Where this connects.
Production Operations · Chemical Exposure · Occupational Illness · Production Crew · Jones Act vs. Comp
What happens when you text us
Tell us what happened — in your own words, as much or as little as you want.
We review it free. You learn whether maritime law protects you and what your options actually are.
You decide. Nothing is filed, and no one contacts your employer, unless you choose to move forward.
Your conversation with us is confidential. There is no fee unless we win. Hablamos español.
Reach out even if…
- You think the accident was partly your fault — under the Jones Act, your own fault reduces a recovery but does not bar it.
- You already gave a statement or signed something — a release signed under pressure can be challenged.
- You still work for the company — talking to a lawyer is confidential, and retaliation for pursuing a claim can itself be actionable.
- You’re not sure your case is “big enough” — that’s exactly what a free review is for.
Catastrophic offshore injury? The investigation can’t wait.
Equipment gets repaired, records get revised, and witnesses rotate off the rig. Doyle Dennis Avery LLP moves quickly to preserve the evidence and identify every responsible party. A case review costs nothing, there is no obligation, and your employer will not know you contacted us.
This page is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. The law that applies to an offshore injury — the Jones Act, the LHWCA and \u00a7 905(b), OCSLA, the general maritime law, product-liability law, or another body of law — and the parties responsible depend on the specific facts. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome. Doyle Dennis Avery LLP · Houston, Texas. This is attorney advertising.
