Inspection Detail

Inspection: 124619586 - Colorado Well Service

Inspection Information - Office: Utah Division Of Occupational Safety And Health

Investigation Summary

Employees #1 and #2 of an oil well servicing company were pulling rods from the well to change out a gear in the bottom. In this process a traveling block pulls the rod from the well bore up above the rod basket. Three lengths of 25 ft rods are pulled, disconnected, and stored at a time. An employee on the floor disconnects the lower portion of the 75 feet of rod from the rod string in the hole and another employee, in the rod basket, moves the rod to the storage fingers. Employee #1 was in the rod basket 80 ft above ground, being trained by Employee #2, who was also in the rod basket. The supervisor of the site (tool pusher), who was also the father of Employee #1, was operating the hoist (traveling block) approximately 5 ft above the ground to the side of the well bore. He was experienced and current in operating the machinery. Another coworker, the floor hand, was at the well bore when he heard the traveling block strike the basket; he ran from his location just before the block struck where he had been standing. Employees #1 and #2 both died. They were killed either by the impact of the traveling block or by the fall from the rod basket. There are two possibilities as to why this accident happened. The floor man said that the string of rod hung up coming out of the well. He was about to tell the operator when the shaft broke loose and shot upward (boomeranged), striking the platform from underneath and knocking Employees #1 and #2 off the platform to the ground. The other possibility is that the traveling block was drawn into the crown block and the cable then separated under the excessive load, allowing the traveling block to fall through the rod basket, striking the employees and knocking them out of the basket to the ground.

Keywords: TRAVELLING BLOCK, BROKEN CABLE, FALL, OIL WELL SERVICING, STRUCK BY