A deadly oil well explosion in Texas’s Permian Basin this week offers a cautionary note of the industry’s challenges as companies cut costs during a market downturn. Even as deaths in the industry have climbed much less than the breakneck pace of hiring for the U.S. shale boom, the three fatalities in Upton County on Tuesday are a reminder of the many risks facing workers. “Even in downturns like this, people tend to want to watch their bottom lines, but safety is just as important now as it was when things were busy,” said Kenny Jordan, executive director at the Association for Energy Service Companies, a Houston-based industry organization. “That’s one of the concerns.” The oil and gas industry saw 112 workers die in 2013, the latest figures available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s up 31 percent from 2003. Meanwhile, producers and drillers doubled their workforce in the same period, to 507,000.