OSHA Expanding Lubbock Office, Credits Oil & Gas Boom
The change in Lubbock's status from a district to an area office includes added staffers who will focus on the safety and health of high-risk construction workers, with an emphasis on Hispanic construction workers.
OSHA announced it is expanding its Lubbock, Texas, district office into an area office, with the booming Texas oil and gas industry a major factor in the decision, according to the news release.
"With the expansion into a full area office, OSHA's experienced staff will be better able to provide safety and health information and outreach to workers and employers," said John Hermanson, OSHA's regional administrator in Dallas. "Our Lubbock Area Office will serve 70 northwestern Texas counties with a population of more than 1.1 million people and cities, such as Amarillo, Abilene, Midland-Odessa, and Lubbock."
Thanks to the boom, the population of Lubbock is expected to double by 2020, according to the release, which said "population trends and an extensive workload" prompted OSHA to expand the office. "In 2013, 22 workers in Texas lost their lives in the oil and gas industry; seven of these workers were in the Lubbock Area Office's jurisdiction," it said.
Additional staffers in the office will focus on the safety and health of high-risk construction workers, with an emphasis on Hispanic construction workers, it said. For more information, or to obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities, or situations posing imminent danger to workers, call the Lubbock Area Office at 806-472-7681 or OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742).