Hundreds of oil and gas workers have been killed on the job in the past decade in highway crashes. One third of the 648 oil field workers who were killed between 2003 and 2008 died in these crashes, according to the CDC. Highway crashes are by far the leading cause of fatalities among oil and gas industry workers. In contrast, highway crashes cause about a fifth of workplace fatalities across all industries in 2010.
The reasons are many. Chief among them is the exemption from federal rules that allow many oil and gas truckers to work longer hours than safety rules set for commercial truckers. Most commercial truckers must stop driving no later than 14 hours after their workday beings, Many oil and gas drivers, though, do not have to count time spent waiting at a well site while other crews finish their work. Wait times can stretch to more than ten hours.