Just in: 5 West Texas workers killed in oilfield Rig Explosion

Five gas rig workers are presumed dead after an explosion gas rig in Quinton, OK. The names of the employees are Matt Smith of McAlester, Parker Waldridge of Crescent and Roger Cunningham from Seminole — and two from neighboring states, Josh Ray of Fort Worth, Texas; and Cody Risk of Wellington, Colorado. For much of the day, emergency officials were unable to get near the rig because the fire was still burning.

The new well is owned by Red Mountain Operating and was being drilled by Patterson-UTI Energy, a large oil and gas drilling company, an OSHA “frequent flyer.” Three of the five dead workers were employees of Patterson-UTI. One Pennsylvania reporter noted in 2012 that “the Occupational Health and Safety Administration knows Patterson well. It has fined the drilling company more than $900,000 over the last decade for repeated safety violations

required safeguards. Proposed penalties total $72,600.

A Patterson-UTI Drilling worker was making a drill-stem connection May 5, 2010 in Reagan County when he was struck on the head by the pipe after it was lifted up from a hole. OSHA cited Patterson-UTI for not using a safety line with the pipe, and also for not keeping fire extinguishers where they should be.

OSHA also cited Patterson in 2007 penalties totaling $47,600 for allegedly failing to protect employees from hazardous working conditions. One of those violations resulted in the 2011 repeat violation mentioned above. That citation included one serious, two repeat and one other-than-serious violation following an investigation that began February 7 at the company’s Cheyenne worksite.

In a wide ranging series of articles in