The Forgotten Victims
There are few remedies for contractors injured in oil refinery accidents.
March 3, 2011 — -- Editor's Note: This story is part of a series on oil refineries published jointly by the Center for Public Integrity and ABC News.
February 22, 2008, began like any other day for José Herrera. A seasoned contract pipefitter in his late 40s, Herrera had labored in Texas refineries for two decades. The work was hard and sporadic, but on a good week, including overtime, an experienced hand like Herrera might earn $3,500, enough to provide a good life for his wife, Hortencia, and son and frequent fishing companion, José.
By late morning, Herrera and a co-worker, Aaron Salinas, had scaled a scaffold at the Citgo East refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, and were busy preparing the Crude Unit for a procedure known as a chemical wash. At 10:35 a.m., a "nipple" -- a metal piece measuring only three-quarters of an inch by 17 inches -- extending from a heat exchanger broke loose, showering the two men with 550-degree oil, a lawsuit filed by Herrera and Salinas claims.
CLICK HERE to read the Center for Public Integrity's story on the risks posed by the nation's aging oil refineries.
CLICK HERE to read a joint investigation by ABC News and the Center for Public Integrity on the risk of chemical clouds from oil refineries.
CLICK HERE to watch a Nightline report on oil refineries.
Salinas clambered down from the scaffold, escaping with burns on his back, neck and head. Herrera wasn't as lucky. Unable to free himself from his safety harness for several minutes, he was seared badly by the oil. Someone finally cut him down, and he was airlifted to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where, for a time, doctors thought he might die. Third-degree burns covered his head, hands and arms.
Since that day three years ago, Herrera, 50, has undergone 11 operations. Doctors rebuilt his chin, transferring layers of skin from his chest and his thighs. Scar tissue prevents him from being able to close his right eye. His body temperature is constantly out of whack. "I've been in hell," he said during a recent interview in Houston, near his home in Baytown, Texas. "I'm in pain every minute."
CLICK HERE to read the Center for Public Integrity's story about José Herrera.
CLICK HERE to watch a Center for Public Integrity interview with José Herrera.
Unless the Texas Legislature changes the law, Herrera's prospects for a sizable financial recovery are limited. At the moment, he is suing the only entity he can, Refined Technologies Inc., a Citgo contractor that planned and directed the work on the heat exchanger.
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