Abstract: On December 19, 2002, an oil well service crew consisting of Employee #1 and 3 coworkers had completed the removal of 2.375-inch tubing out of an existing oil well that needed to be plugged due to bad casing. The crew was using a company owned 185,000 pound capacity telescoping derrick. A welding service company completed the welding of a 10-foot pull sub section of 4.5 inch N-80 casing pipe on the top of the existing casing pipe in the well. The weld included three reinforcing metal plates. The well service crew (plus one helper) started the extraction of some 9,176 feet of 4.5-inch casing pipe from the well. The derrick was set at 82,000 pound pull and connected to the pull sub pipe. A boomer chain was installed on the pull sub pipe to help free up the slips and bowl, and then removed. The casing was raised for removal of the slips and bowl assembly. As the casing and assembly was being moved over to rest on the well service pipe, the pull sub pipe broke due to metal failure (located just above the welded reinforcing metal plates). The pipe flew up and the casing and assembly fell back into the well. During the incident, Employee #1 was struck in the head by the pipe, killing him.