Oil rigs. They can be a fun yet challenging place for somebody to work.
If you get in the wrong situation, you could even run into legal trouble because of this. Currently, nearly 6,000 people are working on oil rigs in the United States in 2022.
If you are one of these people that finds themselves in a complicated legal situation, perhaps you could use an oil and gas attorney.
What is an oil and gas attorney? What do oil and gas attorneys do?
This guide will show you some of the main responsibilities that they have to their clients.
What Is an Oil and Gas Attorney?
An oil and gas attorney is a lawyer that works in a specific field. They typically work with clients in the oil and gas production industry. Sometimes, this involves people that are working on oil rigs.
So, what particular people do they work with? Truthfully, they can work with all levels of people in the oil industry.
Lawyers can be hired by executives of oil rigs to make sure that people who are working for them are following legal protocol. They can also be hired by them to make sure the proper legal protocols are in place to avoid lawsuits or shutdowns.
The other side of this is lawyers who are hired by employees on oil rigs. This can happen if there is a payment issue or if there is a personal injury on the job.
We will get to those issues below. These are some of the things that an oil and gas attorney helps people with.
Legal Documents
One of the main things that a lawyer can help out with on an oil rig is legal documents. Let’s face it, a person that is running an oil rig may not know the first thing about contracts and legal documents.
No worries, this is what an attorney is for. You can have an oil and gas attorney draw up contracts for every employee that you hire on an oil rig. A lawyer can also be useful for drawing up contracts for agreements between an oil rig and another manufacturer.
This can help people when they need to put certain terminology in a contract or form the paperwork to make a contract. Here, a lawyer is most likely your best bet.
However, contracts are not the only legal documents that you can use a lawyer for. You can use a lawyer to draw up a personal conduct policy along with a list of company procedures that employees are going to have to follow.
Having a lawyer here can help make these policies clear legally under no uncertain terms.
Personal Injuries
Next, an oil and gas attorney may represent the employees who work on oil rigs. Let’s face it, it is no secret that working on an oil rig can get dangerous.
Sometimes, it even results in people dying while on the job. In 2021, there were 20 fatalities as a result of people working on an oil rig.
In these situations, the person who got hurt or their loved ones have to get compensation for what happened. If it was a wrongful death, the future salary of that employee plus pain and suffering costs could go to that person’s spouse and children.
If it is a personal injury, a lawyer can help fight to have their medical bills covered by the oil rig where they got hurt. On top of this, the lawyer can help fight to get lost income for the employee that is missing time on the oil rig because of this injury.
Keeping Legal Code
Sometimes, the best thing a lawyer can do for an oil rig is to provide legal counsel for said oil rig. Sometimes, this can simply mean helping an oil rig keep up with the rules and regulations that they have to follow.
Having this input from a lawyer can be key if the executive of an oil rig is not up to speed on legal code. A lawyer can get through this code quicker and is more likely to understand it at first glance. Essentially, they can be the person that the company calls on to make sure that they are doing everything by the book.
Negotiation
Finally, an attorney can help you negotiate certain matters in your business. If an employee is fighting you for compensation, having a lawyer by your side can help you be able to negotiate a settlement for that lawsuit.
The same thing applies to an employee that may be going after an oil rig. The lawyer can help reach a realistic settlement that the oil rig is willing to do but also what the employee deserves.
A lawyer could also be useful to negotiate business contracts with other manufacturers. This can be anything from how much money is exchanged to what terms and conditions are in said contract.
Hire an Oil and Gas Attorney
These are just a few of the things that an oil and gas attorney could do for you. They can help negotiate business contracts and settlements for you, they can keep an oil rig up to speed on legal code, a lawyer can help create legal documents for a company, and they can help represent employees in personal injury cases.
If you are working with an oil rig or for an oil rig, it is essential to have contact with an attorney in this field. Message us to find out how we can help you.