What Makes the Barnett Shale Different
New Barnett drilling has slowed considerably from its peak, but the play did not go quiet — it changed jobs. There are thousands of existing wells across Tarrant, Denton, Wise and Johnson counties that require workover rigs, swabbing units, compression, gathering line maintenance and, increasingly, plugging and abandonment. Well servicing is statistically more dangerous per hour worked than drilling, and it gets a fraction of the safety attention.
The Barnett also has a feature no other Texas play has: the pads are in town. A Fort Worth or Arlington gas pad may sit adjacent to a residential street, a school property line, or a highway frontage road. That creates a second category of claim entirely — injuries to people who never worked in the oilfield and never agreed to be near it.
Communities we serve here: Fort Worth, Arlington, Denton, Cleburne, Decatur, Weatherford, Granbury, Bridgeport, Burleson, Mineral Wells.
Corridors where these crashes happen: I-35W, I-20, US-287, US-380, SH-114, SH-199, Loop 820
Nearest office: Dallas. Our Dallas office covers the Metroplex and the Barnett counties. We travel to clients across the region — at home, in the hospital, or wherever is easiest — at no charge and with no obligation.
Written and reviewed by Lindsey McKay, Owner & Trial Attorney, McKay Law PLLC · Last reviewed August 12, 2026
How People Get Hurt in the Barnett Shale
Workover and well servicing rigs
Mast collapse, falling from the rig floor or derrick, rod and tubing handling injuries, and struck-by incidents during pulling operations. Servicing rigs are frequently older, crews are smaller, and the operator often has no representative on location.
Plugging and abandonment work
P&A crews encounter unknown downhole conditions in wells that may be decades old, with incomplete records and unexpected pressure. Orphaned-well plugging under Railroad Commission contracts adds a layer of public-contractor questions.
Compressor stations and gathering lines
Blowdown events, ignition during pigging operations, and line strikes by third-party excavation. The Barnett's gathering network runs under suburban subdivisions, which raises damage-prevention and one-call compliance issues that rural plays rarely present.
Urban pad incidents affecting neighbors
Well blowouts, tank fires, condensate releases and truck traffic in residential areas. Municipal drilling ordinances and setback requirements create standards of care that a defendant's own permit file will often show it violated.
NIOSH recorded 13 deaths — 2.8% of all U.S. oil and gas extraction worker deaths in the Fort Worth basin between 2014 and 2019 — reflecting the shift from drilling to well servicing. Nationally, roughly three quarters of those killed were contractors rather than operator employees.
City ordinances give Barnett cases a standard the defense didn't write
Fort Worth, Arlington, Denton, Grand Prairie and Mansfield all regulate gas well operations through local ordinances covering setbacks from protected uses, noise limits, fencing, hours of operation, truck routing and emergency response planning. Those permit files are public. When an operator's own application, site plan and inspection history are inconsistent with what actually happened, the negligence case largely builds itself.
For workers, the more common issue is subcontractor layering on small servicing jobs. A workover crew may be employed by a company with three rigs, no workers' compensation coverage, and a minimum-limits policy — while the well is operated by a company with substantially more insurance. Establishing the operator's retained control over the work is what moves the case from an inadequate policy to an adequate one.
Texas allows two years to file, but equipment is repaired, tour sheets are discarded and electronic logs are overwritten in weeks. Preservation letters have to go out before that happens.Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003
Barnett Shale Counties We Serve
Tarrant, Denton, Wise, Johnson, Parker, Hood, Palo Pinto, Erath, Jack, Bosque, Somervell, Montague.
Barnett Shale Questions, Answered
Is a workover rig injury handled differently than a drilling rig injury?
The legal framework is the same but the practical picture is different. Servicing companies tend to be smaller, less insured, less likely to carry workers' compensation, and less likely to have a full-time safety department. That makes identifying the operator's role — and any equipment manufacturer's role — more important than it would be on a large drilling contractor's rig.
A gas well operation damaged my home or injured my family. Do I have a claim?
Possibly, under negligence and nuisance theories, and the local drilling ordinance may supply the standard of care. Claims can cover personal injury, property damage, and loss of use and enjoyment. The operator's permit application, setback compliance and complaint history with the city are the first documents to obtain.
My employer had no workers' comp. What does that change?
It changes a great deal in your favor. A Texas non-subscriber can be sued directly for negligence and cannot defend the case by arguing you were careless, that you assumed the risk, or that a coworker caused it (Tex. Labor Code § 406.033). You still have to prove the employer was negligent, but the usual defenses are off the table.
Does McKay Law handle Barnett cases out of the Dallas office?
Yes. Our Dallas office at 3100 McKinnon St. serves the Metroplex directly, and we appear in Tarrant, Denton, Wise, Johnson and Parker county courts. Consultations are free and we can meet at your home or hospital.
Where This Information Comes From
Every statute, regulation and figure on this page links to its primary source — Texas Statutes, the eCFR, or federal data published by NIOSH, BLS and the Department of Labor.
- Tex. Labor Code § 406.033 — Texas Statutes
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003 — Texas Statutes
- Fatalities in Oil and Gas Extraction Database, United States, 2014–2019 — CDC / NIOSH, MMWR Surveillance Summaries 72(8)
- About the NIOSH FOG database — CDC / NIOSH
- Major oil and gas formations — Railroad Commission of Texas
- Fatality inspection data — OSHA