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 #14548028

BURN,HEAD,OIL WELL DRILLING,NATURAL GAS,EXPLOSION,NECK,FACE,MUD PIT,OIL RIG

Event
BURN,HEAD,OIL WELL DRILLING,NATURAL GAS,EXPLOSION,NECK,FACE,MUD PIT,OIL RIG
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14548028
Report ID
1050210

Event description

OIL WELL DRILLING RIG EXPLOSION

Investigation abstract

THIS OIL WELL WAS IN THE PROCESS OF BEING "KILLED" SO THAT TUBING COULD BE REPLA CED. AFTER PUMPING IN A "KILL PILL", THEY WERE BLEEDING OFF EXCESS GAS THROUGH T HE RIG CHOKING SYSTEM AND INTO THE "GAS BUSTER" IN THE MUD PITS. THEY WERE BLEED ING THE GAS OFF TOO QUICKLY FOR THE "GAS BUSTER" TO HANDLE AND SOME OF THE EXCES S GAS LEAKED INTO THE "MUD PITS". EMPLOYEE #1 WAS LEAVING THE PIT AREA WHEN THE ACCUMULATED GAS EXPLODED. THE SOURCE OF IGNITION IS NOT KNOWN. EMPLOYEE #1 RECEI VED 1ST, 2ND AND 3RD DEGREE BURNS TO HIS HEAD, FACE AND NECK.

Victim

  1. #1 Hospitalized Age 33 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    13
    Event type
    14
    Source
    16
    Occupation code
    614
    Human factor
    17
    Environmental factor
    10
    Hazardous substance
    1640
    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.