Oilfield trainee died after being struck by a bull plug, needle valve and gauge assembly blown out of a wellhead connection

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Oklahoma Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (OKFACE) ; Oklahoma. State Department of Health ; Oklahoma. Injury Prevention Service
• Description:
  A 19-year old wireline operator trainee died on January 12, 2000 from head and neck trauma received at an oil well when he was struck by a bull plug, needle valve and pressure gauge assembly that had been blown out of a wellhead connection. At the time of the incident, the victim was standing approximately 15 feet away from the wellhead near the wireline truck where he and the wireline operator were changing wireline tools while the well operator and an oilfield chemical service representative were attempting to gauge the well pressure. When the well operator opened the wellhead gate valve, the bull plug, needle valve and gauge assembly blew out of the connection and struck the victim in the head and neck inflicting fatal injuries. OKFACE investigators concluded that to prevent similar occurrences: 1. The responsible employer on multi-employer worksites should monitor critical safety activities performed by contractor employees, particularly personnel whose background and skills may be unknown or uncertain. 2. Until connections are adequately tested, the responsible employer on oil well locations should place signs or barricades in areas that lie in direct line with wellhead flanges and connections that may be subject to flying debris in the event of a system failure. 3. The responsible employer on multi-employer job sites should plan and coordinate job activities and communicate planned operations and their associated hazards with representatives from each organization working at the site. 4. Employers should develop and implement a formal occupational health and safety management system that is focused on continual improvement. 5. Employers should ensure that all employees are properly trained and skilled to perform each task that they are assigned, including training in hazard recognition and control.
• Content Notes:
  Publication Date provided by FACE program
  
  not printed on the report.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Occupational Health Oil And Gas Industry Personal Protective Equipment Safety Safety Management Staff Development Workplace
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Injuries Injury-prevention Oil-industry OSHA Region 6 Protective-measures Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Training 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/NIOSHSFACE00OK004
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Oklahoma ; OSHA Region 6
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20027752
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2010-114181
• 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 00OK004, 2000 Jul ; :1-5
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2000
• Performing Organization:
  Oklahoma State Department of Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  21 - Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1997/07/01
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d703802ed7d554ac679fd25bb7ae360434bc6c7a152005d98c3f409723171be3c3006b76d082e0593e2fa75227961e98a7e24a7b5d17e657b5419af8fbdffe02
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/167058/cdc_167058_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 169.55 KB ]