Drilling Worker Struck by Falling Pipe in Wyoming

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Wyoming Fatal Accident Circumstances and Epidemiology Project (Wyoming FACE) ; Wyoming Occupational Fatality Analysis Program
• Description:
  A 21 year old male oilfield worker died from injuries suffered when an elevator unexpectedly disconnected from a length of pipe being lowered onto a pipe trailer during removal from a 320' well for conversion from a pumping well to a submersible well. The victim was operating the elevators from a position directly below the pipe when it fell, striking him in the head. The victim was working with his brother in a family-run operation, and was not wearing a hard-hat at the time of the incident. No-one at the scene was trained or proficient in first aid. The co-worker notified the nearest ambulance service about 11 miles away from the incident site. The ambulance, Sheriff, and a registered nurse from a health-care facility responded, preparing the victim for transportation to a hospital approximately 40 miles from the incident site. After being stabilized, the victim was sent by air ambulance to a larger hospital over a distance of 136 miles. The victim died in the Emergency Room from severe traumatic brain injury approximately 21 hours after the incident occurred. Employers may be able to minimize the potential for occurrence of this type of incident through the following precautions: 1. Report all observed deficiencies in drilling equipment. 2. Require use of appropriate personal protective equipment at all times when working around oil well drilling rigs. 3. Provide periodic inspection of implements and apparatus involved in raising and lowering well tubing. 4. Locate operator controls on tube pulling units in an area clear of loads being raised or lowered.
• Content Notes:
  Publication Date provided by FACE program
  
  not printed on the report.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Nervous System Occupational Health Oil And Gas Industry Safety Safety Management Workplace
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Head-injuries Injuries Injury-prevention Oil-industry OSHA Region 8 Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-areas Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices

  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE95WY001
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Wyoming ; OSHA Region 8
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  4 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20028803
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2014-103508
• Citation:
  Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE 95WY001, 1995 May ; :1-4
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Performing Organization:
  Wyoming Department of Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  21 - Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1991/09/30
• End Date:
  1996/09/29
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4e1a6594106a7de1d1059747af28b6ea7e57a13f3d5b04f53d0222c28918ae71e32d55ce277b041e7329bd3bed1d0acd11431ebec2e74f3d9eb60e311c0c35d9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/166390/cdc_166390_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 42.69 KB ]