Abstract: On November 21, 2006, Employee #1 was a gas well tender, working in a remote rural area. His coworkers had been assembling a new gas well head at well Number 35 before Employee #1 arrived. The new well head had been pieced together with hardware connections only hand tight. The main responsibility of the gas well tender was to ensure equal pressure (tubing pressure versus annulus pressure) existed on each gas well. Employee #1 checked the pressures and identified a pressure difference at well Number 35. He announced his intentions to blow down the well (open the well head and equalize the pressure). The coworkers explained the well head was only hand assembled and not tightened, and they warned Employee #1 to not open the well head. However, he did not heed their warning and opened the main ball valve. The pressure released from the well caused the well head to break apart. Employee #1 was injured when he was struck in the chest by a piece of the assembly, knocked off rig, and fell approximately 20 ft to the ground. Coworkers alerted medical services and transported Employee #1 down the mountain by pick-up truck. They rendezvoused with an ambulance that transported him to a small local airport for transfer to a helicopter. The helicopter was transporting Employee #1 to a hospital, however he died during the flight.