Safety First

Details

• Personal Author:
  Conway, George A. ; Cullen, Elaine T. ; Howard J ; Jenkins M ; Mode, Nicolle A.
• Description:
  'Safety First!', Training Makes A Difference!', 'Buckle Up for Safety!' ... we've all seen safety posters like these - and most likely, haven't given them much thought as we walk by them. Safer work sites are not created by better safety posters, however. If we really want to make safety a priority on the work site, we need to make safety part of the culture. The oil and gas industry is facing an interesting challenge. It is no secret that energy prices are rising along with demand. This is good news for the industry, but these increases create a need for more workers and for more drill rigs to produce the needed products. Unfortunately, the statistics show that in addition to higher employment figures, accident rates are also increasing. Almost 100 people died in this industry in both 2005 and in 2004, according to the latest statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Using an estimated US worker population of 310,000, the oil and gas industry has a fatality rate of around 32 per 100,000 workers. This is about the same as coal miners, twice the rate of construction workers, and eight times the national average for all workers. Clearly this number needs to be reduced. A quick look at fatality reports shows us that the single largest category of accidents in which workers are killed, over one third of the total, occurred when they are driving or riding in moving vehicles. Most of the accidents occurred on highways and involved hitting other vehicles or stationary objects, or when their vehicles jack-knifed or overturned. Moving between work sites seems to be a dangerous business, but working on the rigs themselves is just as dangerous. Workers are caught in or struck by the equipment, fall from the platforms, or are injured by explosions. It is no secret that working on oil and gas rigs is risky, but there are things that can be done to reduce the risk and, therefore, the injuries that workers are experiencing. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Automobiles Occupational Health Oil And Gas Industry Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Accident-rates Accident-statistics Injuries Injury-prevention Motor-vehicles Oil-industry Oil-refineries Oil-refinery-workers Safety-research Traumatic-injuries

  More +
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 3 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OD - Office of the Director ; AFS - Alaska Field Station
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Issue:
  180
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20031751
• Citation:
  Next Gen Oil & Gas 2007 Jan; (180):268732
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2007
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Next Generation Oil & Gas
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c5b566f0c8acd9b14fb5a0e86ebed45757b0c62599830291d0af99d4f37e8c49989d3eef52c16d0ab41bf1139e0a392d098d43dff576624357c1e30aeaef2339
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/185927/cdc_185927_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.22 MB ]