"Federal Researchers ID at Least 9 VOC Inhalation Deaths at Oil Sites"

"At least nine oil workers have died since 2010 from inhaling toxic amounts of vapors while measuring crude oil in storage tanks at well sites, according to new findings by federal researchers.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health report, posted Friday, documents a poorly understood hazard in the oil field from volatile hydrocarbons, also called volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. Many oil workers and supervisors don't realize the petrochemicals can kill (EnergyWire, Oct. 27, 2014).

'These deaths are tragic -- especially since they can happen suddenly and without warning,' said Robert Harrison, an occupational medicine physician at the University of California, San Francisco, who has been researching such deaths. 'It is very important that safety programs are in place to prevent workers from breathing toxic chemicals when they gauge or sample tanks.'"

Mike Soraghan reports for EnergyWire April 13, 2015.