The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act

The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) was intended to extend the rights afforded by the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) to those employees working on platforms on the outer continental shelf area of the U.S. The OCSLA allows workers on the outer continental shelf to get compensation after an accident and injury. A maritime lawyer can help you navigate the process of making a claim. 

The History of the OCSLA

The OCSLA was passed in 1953 as an extension of the rights provided to harbor workers and longshoremen by the LHWCA, but it originated with an older law.

The Submerged Lands Act, or SLA, gave jurisdiction to the coastal states over lands off their coasts, less than three miles from shore. The law also gave lease rights to the federal government, through the Department of the Interior, for oil and mineral exploration and exploitation in these areas.

The OCSLA was created as an extension of the SLA and expanded the federal government’s jurisdiction to underwater regions of the outer continental shelf, including submerged lands, subsoil, and the seafloor.

This jurisdiction extension meant that workers on the outer continental shelf were entitled to the same rights as those covered by the LHWCA.

However, the nature of their work did not meet the definition of status and situs according to that law. The OCSLA was created to include these offshore workers in the federal workers’ compensation program to compensate and ensure that these workers were covered.

The Outer Continental Shelf Defined

The outer continental shelf is a geographical and geological area but also a political definition. It is part of the shelf of land that extends from the continent into the ocean before its depth drops rapidly at its edge.

This is how the federal government defines the outer continental shelf in various areas: 

• The outer continental shelf extends nine nautical miles beyond the baseline of the Gulf coasts of Texas and Florida.
• The start of the outer continental shelf is only three imperial nautical miles from the coast of Louisiana.
• The outer continental shelf is defined as three nautical miles beyond the baseline for all other coastal states on the Gulf and on the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The baseline is the point from which the territorial sea is measured by breadth.

Workers Covered by the OCSLA

The workers covered by the OCSLA are those employed on permanent or temporary facilities fixed on the seafloor or floating on the outer continental shelf. These could include:

• Oil rigs
• Artificial islands
• Natural gas rigs
• Floating dry docks
• Wind turbines
• Floating production systems
• Floating production, storage, and offloading systems

To qualify for compensation from the OCSLA, these workers must meet specific requirements: 

• They must have been injured or made ill while doing work that contributed to exploring the outer continental shelf for natural resources or extracting, developing, or removing those natural resources.
• Workers must do this work aboard the platform or rig on the outer continental shelf instead of on a vessel at sea.

The OCSLA and the LHWCA

Congress passed the LHWCA to provide a workers’ compensation scheme to those employees working in the maritime industry, but not covered by the Jones Act.

These include dock workers, ship mechanics, stevedores, shipbreakers, and others doing work related to the commercial business of a ship but not on the navigable ship itself.

The OCSLA provides similar benefits to those workers injured on the outer continental shelf. The type of compensation offered by both laws includes lost wages.

At the same time, the injury keeps the worker off the job, medical expenses, compensation for permanent disabilities, and survivor benefits for any dependents in a fatal accident.

Unlike the Jones Act, negligence does not need to have caused the accident or illness to recover damages. The worker only needs to have been injured while doing his job duties to qualify.

The Adjacent State Rule

If a maritime worker is injured offshore, jurisdiction may fall to a state if federal law does not apply. If the injured worker does not claim a federal law like the OCSLA or the Jones Act, they may sue the employer, in which case jurisdiction would fall to the nearest state adjacent to the location of the offshore accident.

If you are injured offshore and unsure whether federal maritime laws apply or need state jurisdiction, a qualified maritime lawyer can help you decide the best course of action.

Workers Injured On Shore Qualifying for OCSLA Benefits

A recent Supreme Court decision upheld decisions made in the U.S. Circuit Courts that allowed oil rig workers to claim compensation under the OCSLA even if not injured or killed on the offshore rig.

The case, Pacific Offshore Operators, LLC v. Valladolid, involved the death of an oil rig worker at the employer’s onshore facility. The employer initially denied the widow any compensation for the death, which was caused by an accident.

The widow took her case to court, and the employer appealed all the way to the Supreme Court after lower courts found in her favor. The courts claimed that denying the widow benefits violated the intent of the law.

The employer argued that OCSLA didn’t apply to this worker’s death, as he was not working on the oil rig at the time of the accident.

The courts disagreed with this and stated that because he was conducting work that supported the rig’s operation, he qualified under the OCSLA. This finding means that future workers injured onshore performing duties that support an outer continental shelf rig should be granted the right to compensation under the OCSLA.

If You Are an Injured Offshore Worker

Working in any maritime industry is risky and often dangerous. Accidents can happen even when no negligence or unseaworthiness is involved, and injuries and fatalities occur more than in other industries.

It is essential that the OCSLA extends coverage for injured and killed workers to those stationed on the outer continental shelves. Contact an experienced and knowledgeable attorney working in maritime law if you believe you have a case and are owed compensation through the OCSLA or any other federal maritime law.