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Accident: 200551430 - Employee Killed By Counterweight Of Oil Well Pump Jack

Accident: 200551430 -- Report ID: 0625700 -- Event Date: 06/21/2000
InspectionOpen DateSICEstablishment Name
30308157406/22/20001389Apache Corporation
At approximately 6:50 a.m. on June 21, 2000, Employee #1, a relief pumper, was checking an inoperative pump jack in the Adkins A-1 oil field, section 32-T23N-R9W, near Shongaloo, LA, when it started automatically. The Lufkin unit, model M160D-213-86, serial #F108414J-474871, was on a timer and would start without warning. It was reported that the gauges on the engine that he was checking were not reading properly, and it is believed that he was working on them when the unit started and counterweights moved. He was struck on the head and was killed. The gauges that he had to check and the place where water and/or oil had to be added were on the inside face of the engine, which required he be positioned between the motor and the rotation of the counterweights. There were no witnesses to the accident. Subsequent investigation revealed that between March 27 and March 30, 2000, Dodson-Tye, a subcontractor, as directed by the district superintendent to swap the pump jack on the Adkins well with one that had been surplused at the Stiles B-1 well. This unit was equipped with an electric drive motor, which drove it from the right side. Technicians from Dodson-Tye moved the Stiles pump jack to the Adkins well, where they determined that the sheaves were not on the same side as the drive mechanism of the engine. In this case, it was a gasoline-powered engine which drove from the left side of the unit. They therefore turned the engine 180 degrees. By doing this, the gauges that were mounted on the engine were now on the inside surface of the engine, which required employees to enter the counterweight rotation area to read them. In addition, the Stiles pump jack was equipped with an enclosure over the drive belt. This could not be reinstalled at the Adkins site because of the location of the drive belt.
Keywords: clearance, head, maintenance, counterbalance, work rules, crushed, oil well servicing, struck by, pump, mech malfunction
Employee # Inspection Age Sex Degree Nature Occupation
1 303081574 Fatality Amputation Machinery maintenance occupations

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