Abstract: This operation involved a rotary drilling rig used in oil exploration activities. The operating crew was pulling drill pipe out of the hole and laying the individual pipe joints down onto the catwalk and rolling them into storage bins. Employee #1, operating the drawworks, was raising a pipe joint that was suspended by the elevators (a set of clamps or latches that grip the pipe) while the employee held the lower end in an effort to insert a lay-down hook into the open pipe end. The handles on the elevators caught beneath a derrick girder, causing the pipe to suddenly swing upward like a rigid pendulum arm. Employee #1 held on momentarily until the whipping motion sent him flying off the end of the pipe, approximately 30 to 40 ft into the air and 60 ft from the elevated rig platform, causing him to fall on solid ground. Employee #1 was killed.