104,543Records 70,659Employers 84,666Hospitalizations 27,563Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-09-30
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14510861

OIL WELL DRILLING,DRAWWORKS,STRUCK BY,TONGS,OIL RIG

Event
OIL WELL DRILLING,DRAWWORKS,STRUCK BY,TONGS,OIL RIG
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14510861
Report ID
625400

Event description

STRUCK BY TONGS ON DRILLING FLOOR

Investigation abstract

THE OIL WELL DRILLING CREW WAS IN THE PROCESS OF MAKING A TRIP OUT OF HOLE. THE DRILL STRING WAS PULLED UP AND SET IN SLIPS. THE BREAK-OUT AND BACK UP TONGS WER E ATTACHED. THE DRILLER ACTUATED THE BREAK-OUT CATHEAD. WHEN THE TOOL JOINT BROK E LOOSE THE BREAK-OUT TONGS CAME LOOSE. THE BREAK-OUT CATHEAD LINE CAUGHT ON THE CATHEAD SHAFT COUPLING, CAUSING THE LINE TO CONTINUE PULLING. WHEN THE SLACK WA S TAKEN OUT OF THE TONG SNUB LINE THE TONGS SWUNG WITH GREAT FORCE, STRIKING THE VICTIM AND THROWING HIM AGAINST THE DRAWWORKS.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 25 M

    Nature of injury
    6
    Part of body
    13
    Event type
    1
    Source
    27
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    Environmental factor
    8
    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.