OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14391387
HEAD,TRAVELLING BLOCK,OIL WELL DRILLING,STRUCK BY,ELEVATOR,FALLING OBJECT,HAND,OIL RIG
Event description
1 EMPLOYEE KILLED, 1 INJURED WHEN STRUCK BY OIL RIG GEAR
Investigation abstract
AT APPROXIMATELY 4 AM ON OCTOBER 22, 1988, EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 WERE CHECKING ON RIG FLOOR. EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 WERE STANDING UNDER THE TRAVELLING BLOCK AND WER E STRUCK BY THE FALLING EQUIPMENT. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS KILLED INSTANTLY AND EMPLOYEE #2 WAS HOSPITALIZED WITH HEAD, HAND AND INTERNAL INJURIES. IT WAS LATER LEARNED THAT WHEN THE DRILL LINE WAS STRUNG ON THE RIG, THE LINE WAS KINKED OVER ITS EN TIRE LENGTH. THE DRILLING MUD LEVEL IN THE WELL BORE THEY WERE DRILLING. APPROXIMATELY FIVE H OURS EARLIER, CIRCULATION HAD BEEN LOST IN THE OIL/GAS WELL. AS A RESULT, THE DR ILL STRING BECAME "STUCK IN THE HOLE." THERE WAS APPROXIMATELY 3,500 FEET OF DRI LL STRING, WEIGHING ABOUT 55,000 POUNDS, STUCK IN THE HOLE. THE EMPLOYEES ATTEMP TED TO RECOVER THE STRING BY PULLING ON THE "KELLY". THE ELEVATORS WERE THEN RIG GED AND USED TO PULL ON THE STRING. MAXIMUM PULLING WEIGHT WAS APPROXIMATELY 200 ,000 POUNDS. AFTER REPEATED PULLS ON THE STRING, THE ONE INCH, EIGHT PART DRILL LINE SNAPPED, CAUSING THE TRAVEL BLOCK, ELEVATORS, BALES AND LINE TO FALL TO THE
Victims (2)
-
#1 Fatality Age 22 M
- Nature of injury
- 1
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 24
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 6
- Environmental factor
- 5
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 55 M
- Nature of injury
- 7
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 24
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 6
- Environmental factor
- 5
- Task assigned
- 1
Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.