OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #733535
GAS WELL,EXPLOSION,SPARK,BURN,FIRE,GAS,OIL RIG
Event description
PRESSURED GAS WELL EXPLODED
Investigation abstract
ON JULY 5, 1985, WORKERS HAD SET UP THEIR OIL SERVICE RIG TO REMOVE A HIGH PRESS ATOR, DIED 12 DAYS LATER AS A RESULT OF BURNS SUFFERED DURING THE FIRE. URE GAS WELL'S CHRISTMAS TREE SO THAT A BLOWOUT PREVENTER COULD BE INSTALLED. TH E WELL HAD NOT BEEN PRODUCING BECAUSE OF AN UNKNOWN OBSTRUCTION. AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT, EMPLOYEE #1, THE RIG OPERATOR, WAS MANEUVERING THE CONTROLS TO RAI SE THE CHRISTMAS TREE AND TWO OTHER EMPLOYEES WERE NEXT TO THE TREE REMOVING THE RETAINING BOLTS. THE WELL WAS SUBJECTED TO A PRESSURE OF 5000 PSI FROM NATURAL, UNDERGROUND SOURCES. WHEN THE CHRISTMAS TREE WITH THE ATTACHED PRODUCTION TUBIN G WAS RAISED, THE TUBING SEPARATED DOWN HOLE. PART OF THE TUBING AND THE TREE WE RE HURLED UP INTO THE RIG AND A SPARK IGNITED THE GAS. EMPLOYEE #1, THE RIG OPER
Victims (3)
-
#1 Fatality Age 36 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 35
- Occupation code
- 614
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1640
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#981 Degree 0 Age 0
- Nature of injury
- 0
- Part of body
- 0
- Event type
- 0
- Source
- 0
- Occupation code
- 0
- Human factor
- 0
- Environmental factor
- 0
- Task assigned
- 0
-
#982 Degree 0 Age 0
- Nature of injury
- 0
- Part of body
- 0
- Event type
- 0
- Source
- 0
- Occupation code
- 0
- Human factor
- 0
- Environmental factor
- 0
- Task assigned
- 0
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.