Inspection Detail

Inspection: 303731707 - Platte Valley Oil

Inspection Information - Office: Omaha Area Office

Investigation Summary

On May 21, 2002, Employee #1 and two coworkers were working at a mobile, truck-mounted oil rig, removing and replacing a failed pump system from a 3,400-feet deep oil well. This well was one of several in a farmer's field in which oil wells had been in production. To replace the pump, they had to remove 25-foot long, 0.75-inch diameter sucker rods that were used to actuate the pump. The rods were removed in groups of three and hung end-to-end on a specially designed rack located on a truck-mounted derrick that was erected over the well head. Earlier that shift, one of the rods had separated from its group of three and fell to the ground. Employee #1 and his coworkers did not stop work to retrieve the fallen rod. At some point during their operation, the winds began gusting up to 60 mph. Employee #1 was standing at the base of derrick on the west side, while two coworkers were clearing dirt away from the well head. As Employee #1 began walking away from the derrick, one of the sucker rods blew off the derrick and was flung approximately 28 feet and struck Employee #1 at the base of his neck, next to his right shoulder. The rod went through his chest and exited through his right lower back, piercing and damaging one of his lungs. Employee #1 was hospitalized and treated for a puncture wound. A detailed investigation revealed that the high winds had caused the threaded collar that was holding the sucker rods together to come loose. The sucker rod that struck Employee #1 was the second in the string of three from which the lower rod that had fallen earlier that day.

Keywords: CHEST, HIGH WIND, LUNG, METAL BAR, OIL WELL SERVICING, STRUCK BY, FALLING OBJECT, OIL RIG, PUNCTURE