105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14402614

WIRE ROPE,BROKEN CABLE,CAUGHT BY,DRAWWORKS,FALL,OIL WELL SERVICING,DECAPITATED,OIL RIG,UNGUARDED

Event
WIRE ROPE,BROKEN CABLE,CAUGHT BY,DRAWWORKS,FALL,OIL WELL SERVICING,DECAPITATED,OIL RIG,UNGUARDED
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14402614
Report ID
626000

Event description

OIL SERVICE RIG WORKER KILLED WHEN HE FELL INTO DRAWWORKS

Investigation abstract

AT ABOUT 10:30 AM ON FEBRUARY 5, 1988, SWABBING OPERATIONS WERE BEING CONDUCTED BY A 3 MAN WELL SERVICE CREW. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS SITTING ON TOP OF THE MAIN DRAWWOR KS GUIDING THE SANDLINE AS IT WAS BEING REELED IN BY THE SANDLINE DRAWWORKS. ON THE 4TH AND FINAL RUN, THE 9 16 INCH WIRE ROPE BROKE. APPROXIMATELY 5000 FEET OF LINE WAS STILL OUT WHEN THE TENSION WAS RELEASED. EMPLOYEE #1 FELL INTO THE REV OLVING DRUM THAT WAS ROTATING AT APPROXIMATELY 75 RPM. HE WAS PULLED INTO THE DR AWWORKS AND DECAPITATED. THE DRAWWORKS GUARD WAS DETERIORATED AND DID NOT PREVEN T EMPLOYEE #1 FROM FALLING INTO THE MECHANISM.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 32 M

    Nature of injury
    1
    Part of body
    13
    Event type
    4
    Source
    24
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    10
    Environmental factor
    1
    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.