Occupational mortality in the New Mexico oil and gas industry

Abstract

New Mexico's oil and natural gas industry has the second highest occupational fatality rate among oil and gas workers in the nation. There is currently limited data available regarding the top contributing factors to occupational mortality specific to the state's oil and gas industry. This study seeks to understand causes of mortality among oil and gas workers in New Mexico between 2008 and 2018. To facilitate this study, case reports were obtained from the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, and population data was acquired from the US Department of Labor. In this 11-year span, there were 73 cases, with an average annual mortality rate of 37 deaths per 100,000 oil and gas workers. Leading causes of death were vehicle accidents (36%), cardiovascular incidents (22%), and crush injuries (19%). The majority of vehicle accidents involved single vehicle accidents, and correct seat belt use was only documented 23% of the time. The majority of cardiovascular deaths were due to arteriosclerotic and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Alcohol was present in 18% of cases, and drugs were present in 19% of cases with methamphetamine present in 10% of investigated deaths. This is the first study to directly include cardiovascular incidents in the leading causes of death; otherwise, this study reflects national data reporting vehicle accidents and crush injuries as the leading causes of death. Going forward, prevention measures should effectively target safe driving practices focusing on seatbelt use, and mitigation of workplace drug and alcohol consumption.

Descriptive Analysis of the Healthcare Aspects of Industrial Disasters Around the World

“…34 While research around occupational morbidity and mortality in the industrial sector does exist around the world and continuously informs changes in safety policies and protocols, they are predominantly focused on causal factors of single accident events, rather than mass casualty events. 35,36 As expected, data collection in all disasters (whether it be natural or man-made) remains a difficult proposition but proposals and suggestions for interdisciplinary collaboration on critical data collection do exist, although adoption remains uncertain. 37,38 The international, Inter-Agency Coordination Group for industrial and chemical accidents have also published recommendations and framework for industrial and chemical accidents prevention, preparedness, and response, recognizing the need for a global strategy against such events.…”

Working Alone and/or in Remote Locations

“…The Total Worker Health® program at NIOSH and The Community Guide® provide guidance for employers who are interested in implementing evidence-based health programs. [22][23][24][25] These programs should be tailored to the needs and demographics of the worker population being addressed.…”

Occupational accidental injury deaths in Tokyo and Chiba prefectures, Japan: A 10‐year study (2011–2020) of forensic institute evaluations

“…Previous studies on the characteristics of occupational accidents using forensic autopsies have focused on older workers and accidents in specific industries based on national or regional forensic autopsy databases [7,[20][21][22], or small comprehensive reports from specific facilities [22][23][24][25], although Japan has few reports from individual forensic autopsy facilities [26,27].…”

“…Although a nationwide database of forensic autopsy cases exists (containing personal information and injury details that are available to interested parties), missing data and a lack of granular information make it impossible to analyze individual cases of occupational fatalities. Previous studies on the characteristics of occupational accidents using forensic autopsies have focused on older workers and accidents in specific industries based on national or regional forensic autopsy databases [7, 20–22], or small comprehensive reports from specific facilities [22–25], although Japan has few reports from individual forensic autopsy facilities [26, 27].…”