During a 12-year span, an oil and gas worker died once every three months on average in Colorado, victims of a system focused more on protecting the industry than its employees.
Shane Hill was 34 years old when he was killed working on a rig near Parachute in October 2014.
Hill had just finished tightening a 2-inch valve to prepare for drilling. But when the pressure inside the rig reached 2,700 pounds per square inch, the valve blew loose and darted through the air, hitting Hill in the head and killing him instantly.
When OSHA investigators arrived on site, they documented three workplace-safety violations. It was not the first time that OSHA inspectors had found problems with Cyclone’s safety measures on that rig.
Three years earlier, when the rig — Cyclone Rig No. 17 — was drilling in a different location, OSHA inspectors documented five violations and slapped an initial $13,480 fine on the company, according to inspection records. Cyclone settled for three violations and $8,088 in fines.
By the time of Hill’s death, Cyclone had been charged with 37 safety violations on all of its rigs in Colorado since 2000 and been assessed $88,495 in fines, which the company had settled for $42,640 spread out over 29 violations. Two OSHA inspections at Cyclone rigs in Colorado had even been included on the 2010 auditap list of questionable fine reductions.