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 #768598

BURN,BLASTING,STATIC ELECTRICITY,EXPLOSIVES,EXPLOSION,HEARING LOSS,PERFORATING GUN,UNTRAINED,OIL WELL PERFORATING

Event
BURN,BLASTING,STATIC ELECTRICITY,EXPLOSIVES,EXPLOSION,HEARING LOSS,PERFORATING GUN,UNTRAINED,OIL WELL PERFORATING
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
768598
Report ID
626300

Event description

EMPLOYEE KILLED WHEN PERFORATING GUN EXPLODED

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEE #1 WAS RIGGING A PERFORATING GUN AT AN OIL WELL SITE. THE GUN CONSISTED T APPEARS THAT STRAY VOLTAGE AND/OR STATIC DISCHARGE INITIATED THE BLAST. OF PRIMACORD WRAPPED AROUND A PIECE OF PVC PIPE, INITIATED BY A 20 OHM BLASTING CAP. EMPLOYEE #1 HAD RIGGED THE CAP AND WAS TAPING THE APPARATUS TO THE CHARGE. THERE WAS AN EXPLOSION. EMPLOYEE #1 DIED WITHIN AN HOUR FROM SEVERE BURNS. AN E MPLOYEE OF ANOTHER COMPANY WAS BURNED LESS SEVERELY, BUT SUFFERED SEVERE HEARING LOSS. THE EQUIPMENT USED WAS A 1982 GMC BRIGADEER WIRELINE TRUCK (S/N 16D58C4Y8 CV565781). CAUSAL FACTORS APPEAR TO BE: THE WIRELINE TRUCK WAS NOT GROUNDED TO T HE WELL HEAD OR PULLING RIG; THE ONAN GENERATOR WAS OPERATING AT THE TIME OF THE EXPLOSIVE RIGGING; AND THERE WAS A LACK OF TRAINING AND SUPERVISORY CONTROLS. I

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 35 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    1
    Source
    16
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    9
    Environmental factor
    10
    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.