UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

At 1:10 p.m. on Tuesday, May 11, 1999, Employee #1 was removing a 670-pound steel bearing block from the Noble-Max Smith drilling rig. With assistance from a helper, Employee #1 was attempting to pull the 17.5625-inch by 15.4375-inch by 10.25-inch bearing block from the south end of the shaft that supported the turn-down sheave assembly. The bearing block had previously been temporarily bolted to the bottom of an overhead H-beam located under the drilling rig's pipe rack deck. Employee #1 was trying to remove the bearing block in order to remove the broken portion of a tap which was about 0.375- inches below the surface of the bolt hole. The helper was not injured. The field-fabricated lifting pan or tray was being supported by separate chain hoists on each side of the bearing block, but it was not made for removing a bearing block. It could have been used for this purpose, but more helpers would have been needed. The center of gravity of the bearing block being removed was above the attachment points where the two chain hoist hooks attached to the pan's lifting eyes. The block therefore was top-heavy, and it simply flipped out of the pan or tray. It fell through the scaffold boards Employee #1 was standing on. Employee #1 fell approximately 153 feet to his death. Employee #1's employer had no knowledge of his use of this device, which had been made the day before by an employee of Noble Drilling U.S.A.