Montana Oil Field Accident Lawyer | Oil Rig & Well Sites

Practice areaOil Field & Oil Rig

Great Falls & Montana Oil Field Accident Lawyers: Oil Rig, Well Site, Oilfield Explosion and Oilfield Truck Accidents

Boland Aarab PLLP.

Our attorneys: Caitlin Boland Aarab · Samir F. Aarab

As Montana oil field accident lawyers, we know that an oil patch injury is rarely just one company’s fault. A single well site can involve an operator, a drilling contractor, service companies, water and crude haulers and equipment makers. Workers’ compensation covers your own employer. The other companies can be sued for full damages.

Key Takeaways
Workers’ comp is usually the only remedy against your own employer (§ 39-71-411, MCA), but you can sue other companies whose negligence caused the injury (§ 39-71-412, MCA).
OSHA’s general industry standards (29 C.F.R. part 1910) cover most drilling and servicing work; the construction standards (part 1926) cover only site preparation (OSHA interpretation, 2009).
Oilfield truck drivers get special hours-of-service rules, including a 24-hour restart and, for some drivers, waiting time at the well site logged as off duty (49 C.F.R. § 395.1(d)).
Most injury and wrongful-death lawsuits must be filed within 3 years (§ 27-2-204, MCA).

On this page: Where it happens · Types of accidents · Explosions and fires · Oilfield trucking · Who is responsible · Workers’ comp · Safety rules · What to do · Damages and deadlines · Why Boland Aarab · FAQ

Seriously hurt in the oil field, or lost a family member to an oilfield accident? Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.

Where do oil field accidents happen in Montana?

Most of Montana’s oil work is in the east and on the Hi-Line. Montana’s share of the Bakken formation and the Williston Basin lies in the northeastern corner of the state, especially Richland, Roosevelt and Sheridan Counties, including the Elm Coulee field near Sidney. Older fields also operate along the Hi-Line and in north-central Montana.

That geography shapes these cases. Well sites are remote, help can be an hour or more away, and much of the danger is on the road: crews, water, sand, crude and equipment all move by truck on two-lane highways. Many workers live in one state, are hired in another and work in a third. And the Bakken runs across the state line into North Dakota, where different rules apply. We will tell you honestly whether your case is one we can handle.

What oil field accidents do we handle?

We represent workers and families after:

Falls from rig floors, derricks, catwalks, tanks and trucks. Falls are one of the most common causes of serious oilfield injuries.
Crushing and caught-between injuries from pipe handling, tongs, cathead lines, pumps and heavy equipment.
Struck-by accidents from swinging loads, high-pressure lines that whip or burst, and falling tools or pipe.
Explosions, flash fires and well blowouts.
Toxic exposure, including hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and hydrocarbon vapors at tanks and hatches.
Truck and vehicle crashes driving to, from and between sites.
Electrical accidents from overhead lines and faulty equipment.
Fatal oilfield accidents, where we bring wrongful death and survival claims for the family.

The injuries are often catastrophic: burns, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, amputations, crush injuries and disfigurement.

What causes well-site explosions and fires?

Most oilfield fires and explosions happen when flammable gas or vapor meets an ignition source that should have been controlled. Common patterns include:

Loss of well control. A kick that is not detected or controlled in time, or blowout-prevention equipment that fails or was not maintained.
Tank and tank-battery vapors. Hydrocarbon vapors released during gauging, sampling or thief-hatch work, then ignited by a spark, static or a hot engine.
Hot work near hydrocarbons. Welding or cutting without gas testing, isolation or a proper permit.
High-pressure failures. Burst lines, failed fittings and unrestrained iron during fracturing, flowback or well testing.
Poor lockout and isolation. Equipment opened or serviced while still pressurized or energized.

Explosion cases are built on the physical evidence: the failed part, the gas-detection records, the permits and the job-safety analysis. That evidence needs to be preserved quickly, before the site is cleaned up and equipment is repaired or returned to a rental yard.

What about crashes involving oilfield trucks?

Oilfield trucking is one of the most dangerous parts of the work, and the trucking company is usually a third party you can sue. Water haulers, crude haulers, sand trucks and rig-moving crews run long hours on roads that were not built for that traffic, often in the dark and in winter weather.

Commercial trucks must follow the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. Oilfield drivers have two special rules (49 C.F.R. § 395.1(d)):

Drivers of vehicles used exclusively to transport oilfield equipment or to service oil and gas field operations may restart their 8-day period after 24 consecutive hours off duty, instead of the usual 34.
Specially trained drivers of vehicles specially built to service oil wells may log waiting time at the well site as off duty, and it does not count toward the 14-hour limit.

These exceptions are narrow. They do not let a fatigued driver keep driving, and they do not apply to every truck on a lease road. Whether a carrier used them properly is often a key question. For more on how we investigate trucking companies, see our truck accident page.

Who can be held responsible for an oil field injury?

Depending on the facts, responsibility can reach:

The operator that controls the well and the site.
The drilling contractor and its crew, if you worked for a different company.
Service companies: well servicing, cementing, fracturing, wireline, flowback and testing contractors.
Trucking companies hauling water, crude, sand, chemicals or equipment.
Equipment manufacturers and rental companies whose equipment was defective or poorly maintained. A seller of a defective, unreasonably dangerous product can be held strictly liable (§ 27-1-719, MCA).
Safety consultants and site supervisors from other companies who controlled the work.

Oil field contracts often shift responsibility among these companies through indemnity and insurance clauses. Those clauses decide who pays in the end, but they do not change who was at fault. Montana apportions fault among everyone responsible (§ 27-1-703, MCA), so identifying every company on the site early matters.

How does workers’ compensation affect an oil field injury claim?

You can usually collect workers’ comp from your employer and sue the other companies at the same time. In Montana, workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy against a covered employer (§ 39-71-411, MCA), with narrow exceptions for uninsured employers and intentional injuries (§ 39-71-413, MCA). But the right to benefits is not affected when a third party caused the injury, and you keep a separate claim against that third party (§ 39-71-412, MCA).

The workers’ comp insurer will have a lien on any third-party recovery. Montana law limits it. The insurer must share the cost of the case or give up half its lien, and it is not entitled to full repayment if you can show your damages exceed the benefits and the recovery combined (§ 39-71-414, MCA). Our workplace injury page explains these rules in more detail.

If you were hired in another state, that state’s workers’ compensation law may also be involved. Get advice before you sign anything with an insurer.

What safety rules apply on a well site?

Federal OSHA sets the rules for most Montana oil field work. Montana has no OSHA-approved State Plan, so federal OSHA covers most private-sector workers in the state (OSHA State Plans). There is no single OSHA rulebook for drilling. Instead:

Site preparation (leveling, trenching and excavation) is covered by the construction standards, 29 C.F.R. part 1926.
All other drilling and servicing work is covered by the general industry standards, 29 C.F.R. part 1910 (OSHA interpretation, April 27, 2009).
Hazards no standard addresses fall under the OSH Act’s General Duty Clause, which requires employers to keep the workplace free of recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious harm.

Standards that often matter in oilfield cases include:

Standard	What it covers
29 C.F.R. § 1910.147	Lockout/tagout: controlling hazardous energy, including pressure, during servicing
29 C.F.R. § 1910.146	Permit-required confined spaces, such as tanks
29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200	Hazard communication for chemicals
29 C.F.R. § 1910.134	Respiratory protection
29 C.F.R. § 1910.28	Fall protection on walking-working surfaces

One gap is worth knowing. OSHA’s Process Safety Management standard, which governs highly hazardous chemical processes at plants and refineries, expressly does not apply to oil or gas well drilling or servicing operations (29 C.F.R. § 1910.119(a)(2)). That makes the companies’ own safety programs, industry practices and contracts even more important as evidence of what they were required to do.

An OSHA citation does not win a case, and the lack of one does not end it. The rules show the jury the standard the companies set for themselves and the one they were required to meet.

What should you do after an oil field injury?

Get medical care, and make sure every provider knows the injury happened at work.
Report the injury to your employer in writing, within 30 days for workers’ compensation (§ 39-71-603, MCA).
Write down every company on location: the operator, the rig or service company, the trucking outfits and any rental equipment.
Photograph the scene, the equipment and your injuries if you can do so safely, and write down witnesses’ names and phone numbers.
Do not give a recorded statement to another company’s insurer, and do not sign a release before getting advice.
Call a lawyer quickly so preservation demands go out for the equipment, gas-monitor data, job-safety analyses, permits, truck data and driver logs.

What can you recover, and how long do you have?

In a third-party case you can seek full damages: past and future medical care, lost wages and earning capacity, pain and suffering, disfigurement and the loss of the life you expected to live. In a death case, the family and the estate can bring wrongful-death and survival claims (§§ 27-1-513, 27-1-501, MCA). You can recover if your share of fault is not greater than the defendants’ combined, with damages reduced by your percentage (§ 27-1-702, MCA).

Deadlines:

30 days to notify your employer of the injury, and 12 months to file a written workers’ compensation claim (§§ 39-71-603, 39-71-601, MCA).
3 years to file most injury and wrongful-death lawsuits (§ 27-2-204, MCA).
Much less time before trucks are repaired, data is overwritten and sites are cleaned up.

The Boland Aarab Way

We are trial lawyers. We build every serious case as if it will be tried and then appealed, because oil companies and their insurers have the resources to do both. That is the work behind our record in the Montana Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit:

We protect verdicts. When a Phillips County jury’s $168,500 verdict for an injured driver was thrown out, we took it to the Montana Supreme Court and had it reinstated (Voegel v. Salsbery, 2023 MT 137).
We try cases in rural Montana. Our firm has tried more than a dozen jury trials, in Cascade, Phillips, Meagher and Yellowstone Counties, and our attorneys have spent more than 4,000 hours in the courtroom.
We know federal court. Out-of-state oil and trucking companies often move cases there. Our attorneys have handled more than 40 cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana over the past nine years, and Samir Aarab has argued twice before the Ninth Circuit.
You work with the lawyers. The attorneys you meet on the first call are the attorneys who handle your case.

See our results.

Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.

Where do we handle oil field injury cases?

We are based at 18 6th Street North, Suite 200, in Great Falls, and handle oil field injury cases across Montana, from the Bakken counties of northeastern Montana to the Hi-Line, including Great Falls, Billings, Missoula, Helena, Bozeman, Butte and Kalispell. Oil field work is part of our broader workplace injury practice.

Oil field and oil rig cases across Montana

We are based in Great Falls and handle oil field and oil rig cases statewide. Local information for each city:

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I sue my employer after an oil rig accident in Montana? Usually not; workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy against a covered employer (§ 39-71-411, MCA). But you can sue other companies on the site, such as the operator, a service contractor, a trucking company or an equipment maker, whose negligence caused the injury.

Who is liable for an oil field explosion? Often more than one company: the operator, the contractor running the work, whoever supplied or maintained the failed equipment, and anyone who allowed an ignition source near vapors. The physical evidence decides it, so it must be preserved quickly.

Does OSHA have rules for oil drilling? Yes. Most drilling and servicing work falls under OSHA’s general industry standards, 29 C.F.R. part 1910, and site preparation falls under the construction standards, part 1926. Hazards no standard covers fall under the General Duty Clause.

Can I get workers’ comp and also sue a third party? Yes (§ 39-71-412, MCA). The workers’ comp insurer will have a lien on the third-party recovery, limited by § 39-71-414, MCA.

Are oilfield truck drivers subject to hours-of-service rules? Yes, with narrow exceptions: a 24-hour restart for some oilfield drivers, and off-duty treatment of well-site waiting time for specially trained drivers of well-servicing vehicles (49 C.F.R. § 395.1(d)).

What if I live out of state or was hurt in North Dakota? Out-of-state workers hurt in Montana can bring claims here. If the injury happened in North Dakota, North Dakota law and deadlines may govern; call us and we will tell you honestly whether we can help.

How long do I have to file an oil field injury lawsuit? Generally 3 years in Montana for injury and wrongful-death claims (§ 27-2-204, MCA). Workers’ comp deadlines are shorter: 30 days to notify your employer and 12 months to file a claim.

Talk to a Montana Oil Field Accident Lawyer