Injuries – 2001 (56 total)

11-Jan-2001 - British-Borneo Petroleum, Inc.

Remarks: While running casing, a joint fell out of the elevators as it was in the process of being lifted. Three floorhands received minor injuries. British Borneo conducted an investigation. The evidence indicates that the elevators were not properly closed around the casing and came unlatched while being lifted.

13-Jan-2001 - The Houston Exploration Company
(also listed as Explosion and Fire)

Remarks: A jack-up barge was working as the support vessel for construction being performed on the platform. It was in position and jacked up next to the platform. An explosion and flash fire occurred in the engine compartment and the super structure of the jack up barge. 

26-Jan-2001 - BP Amoco Corporation

Remarks: The east crane boom contacted the rig derrick’s wind wall surrounding the monkey board. This separated a welded frame structure member. It dropped to the rig floor, hitting a floorhand on one hand and injuring three fingers. 

29-Jan-2001 - Newfield Exploration Company

Remarks: After offloading equipment from a motor vessel in 5-7 foot seas, two roustabouts boarded a personnel basket to return to the platform. One roustabout signaled to the crane operator that he was prepared for the lift. The crane operator lifted the basket at the same time a wave dropped the boat causing one roustabout to lose his grip and fall an estimated 6 feet from the personnel basket to the back deck of the workboat. He was transported to the local hospital where he received treatment for a broken upper left arm. He was released but will not return to work at this time.

05-Feb-2001 - BP Amoco Corporation

Remarks:  After breaking out a joint of 2 ³/₈ inch tubing, the tongs did not open fully. The employee put his left hand in the tongs to free the tubing and the tongs operator jammed the tongs on his hand. The employee suffered lacerations and possibly broken bones.

05-Feb-2001 - BP Amoco Corporation

Remarks: The rig mechanic received a fracture on one leg, above the ankle. He did not discover the fracture until the last week in February 2001. The injury occurred when he got his leg caught between a frame riding basket and a steel beam as he was departing the riding basket.

08-Feb-2001 - Callon Petroleum Operating Company

Remarks: A contract worker sustained a compound fracture to his right arm as he was attempting to latch a set of pipe tongs onto a joint of tubing. He was performing a temporary abandonment operation onboard the platform. He was working on a small, limited space work deck located above the wellhead when he inadvertently placed his arm between the pipe and tongs resulting in injury. The worker was evacuated by Air-Med to the hospital in where he was treated for his injuries.

09-Feb-2001 - Bois d’Arc Offshore Ltd.

Remarks: While personnel were being lifted off the boat in a personnel basket, a swell lifted the boat and caused the boat to strike the bottom of the personnel basket. The personnel fell out of the basket onto the boat. The injuries didn’t appear to be serious.

16-Feb-2001 - BP Amoco Corporation

Remarks: The rig’s chief electrician was removing the lower motor/gear box assembly from the area on top of the derrick elevator. A chain fall was attached to the gearbox prior to unbolting it. When the gearbox was disengaged from the elevator track, the elevator fell between 2 - 2 ½ feet. When the elevator dropped, the electrician’s left leg was caught between the moving car and the stationary doorframe, injuring his foot and leg area.  

01-Mar-2001 - Anadarko Petroleum Corporation

Remarks: While tripping pipe in hole, the bleeder valve was hanging off pipe handler by a steel lanyard.  The bleeder valve hung up on the elevator and broke its lanyard. The valve then fell to the floor and struck a floorman. The injury was relatively minor.

03-Mar-2001 - Newfield Exploration Company

Remarks: While attempting to board 4 personnel from the boat to the platform, 3 of the 4 personnel on the basket had to step off, but the 4^th one failed to let go and get off the basket. By that time, the boat had drifted and the basket was being pulled across the deck. The basket struck a fuel tank on the deck, and the employee was thrown off the basket resulting in a fall onto the back of the boat. The employee was then flown to a hospital, and it was determined that the femur on the right leg was broken. 

05-Mar-2001 - Chevron U.S.A. Inc.

Remarks: A contract employee was injured when he fell off a crane personnel basket while being lifted from a motor vessel onto the above platform. His head hit the side rail of the boat, rendering him unconscious for a short period of time.

05-Mar-2001 - BP Amoco Corporation

Remarks: A rig floorhand injured his right knee when he slipped on a wet wood deck while walking across the rig floor near the rotary table. The injury was not detected until he went to the doctor later on his days off.

08-Mar-2001 - Burlington Resources Offshore Inc.

Remarks: The assistant driller (person later injured) was using a riding belt supported by a line from an air tugger winch (air tugger line no. 1). The riding belt includes an underlying board to facilitate sitting on it. A different air tugger line (air tugger line no. 2) was attached to pipe elevators while they were being changed on the PRS (pipe racking system). While preparing to lay down the elevators, "air tugger line no. 2" was shackled over the "air line no. 1" (the one attached to the assistant driller's riding belt). At that time, the assistant driller was suspended approximately 20 feet above the rig floor. The weight of the "air tugger line no. 2" (that was shackled over "air tugger line no. 1) was overbalanced. The shackle on "air tugger line no. 2" then started to slide up along "air tugger line no. 1. When the shackle reached the top pulley on the "air tugger line no. 1" the shackled abruptly stopped. This yanked on "air tugger line no. 1" and caused a violent upward motion of the riding belt. The assistant driller was jerked upward into the claw arm on the PRS. The leg of the assistant driller was caught between the board (underneath the riding belt) and the guard around the electrical box mounted on the PRS. This resulted in a fracture of the assistant driller’s upper left leg. 

15-Mar-2001 - BP Amoco Corporation

Remarks: A rig floorhand was shocked while attempting to disconnect a high-pressure hose from a 110 VAC electrical pressure washer. He received a contusion to his lower back when, in an attempt to disengage himself from the hot current, he fell away from the shock. Apparently, the pressure washer was not properly grounded.

22-Mar-2001 - El Paso Production Company

Remarks: A contract operator was in the process of changing out filters on the potable water system when he was struck in the face with the top lid of the potable water canister. He had completed the task and was pressuring up on the canister when the lid struck him.

23-Mar-2001 - Burlington Resources Offshore Inc.

Remarks: While removing a valve cover from a second stage compressor cylinder, trapped gas forced the valve cover to be blown off striking the contract mechanic in the face. Injuries he received were a broken left jaw with torn ligaments, fractured left cheek, and a laceration above the left eye extending to his ear. He was working with a platform operator, but was alone at the time of accident. He was released from hospital on 25 March 2001.

31-Mar-2001 - Westport Resources Corporation

Remarks: The rig was making a trip. The crew had just set slips, and the pipe handler came off of the top drive, fell on the rig floor, and landed on the injured roustabout. The left leg was fractured, and the right ankle was possibly fractured.

31-Mar-2001 - Anadarko Petroleum Corporation

Remarks: First Injury:  The employee fell backwards when the grating dropped several inches resulting in a sprained knee. Second Injury:  The employee also fell backwards when the grating dropped resulting in a hurt back and a sprained ankle.

05-Apr-2001 - Anadarko Petroleum Corporation

Remarks: An employee sprained his left ankle while changing the dump valve on the clarifier vessel dump line.

12-Apr-2001 - Anadarko Petroleum Corporation

Remarks: While pulling drill pipe out of the hole, the Top-Drive struck a stand of drill pipe that had not been pulled out of the way. The drill pipe struck a protective plate on the Top-Drive and knocked it free. This plate fell and struck a floorhand on the back and leg. He was sent to the local hospital with moderate injuries.

23-Apr-2001 - BP Amoco Corporation

Remarks: The crane operator was attempting to pick up a 6 foot x 6 foot x 6 foot garbage basket from the facility deck to weigh it when this incident occurred. The contractor roustabout who had assisted in hooking the basket to the crane had his leg fractured when the basket swung out of control, pinning him between the basket and the adjacent drip pan.

24-Apr-2001 - RME Petroleum Company

Remarks: A drilling contractor employee sustained a serious injury to his left foot as he was being lifted by the air hoist from the rig floor to the casing stabbing board. His left big toe was severed when his left foot and boot was caught in a “V” section of 2 inch angle iron on the backside of the stabbing board. He was transported to the local hospital for treatment.

26-Apr-2001 - Chevron U.S.A. Inc.

Remarks: A contract employee was checking the differential pressure on the pipeline pump filter pot when a ³/₈ inch tubing fitting on top of the filter pot blew off. His hands were burned when he put his hands in front of his face. The hot oil sprayed onto his hands and burned them. He then activated the pump emergency shutdown system.  

29-Apr-2001 - Chevron U.S.A. Inc.

Remarks: A contract snubbing hand injured his leg when a pipe tong fell off the rig pipe rack that was overhead, striking him as the tong fell down to the deck below. He did not miss work until May 2, 2001, and he returned to work on May 21, 2001. 

20-May-2001 - BP Amoco Corporation

Remarks: A contract diver was blasting under the platform at 140 feet water depth when he cut his wrist with the grit blast system. 

20-May-2001 - Vastar Resources, Inc.

Remarks: A rig hand working in the derrick had one hand injured when it got caught in a rig air hoist sheave. A rig hand on the rig floor was attempting to lift another rig hand up into the derrick with the air hoist when this accident occurred.

21-May-2001 - St. Mary Energy Company

Remarks: A wireline supervisor and operator had set a plug in the well. They were installing a lubricator cap when the supervisor had a phone call. He had to board the lift boat. The operator finished installing the cap and began to bleed the tubing with 1900 psi through a 2 ½ Halco valve that was installed on the “pump-in-sub.”  This was being bled off to the atmosphere. The thrust from the bleed down moved the lubricator to one side and the 8-round thread tree connection failed. The lubricator moved violently back and forth striking the operator in the upper abdomen, knocking him to the deck. The lubricator completely separated from the tree and was blown onto the top deck.

31-May-2001 - Newfield Exploration Company

Remarks: A contractor was in the process of making a manual cut in the tubing between the tubing reel and injector head with pipe cutters. Witnesses stated that the he appeared to be either startled and attempted to jump or lost his balance and fell from the coil tubing reel upon completion of the cut. As he was falling, his left leg slipped between two cross beam’s on the unit. He sustained a broken lower left leg and dislocated right shoulder when he fell from the coil tubing reel to the unit sub decking (approximately nine feet). He was transported by helicopter to the local hospital for treatment.

07-Jun-2001 - Shell Oil Company

Remarks: This was a loss time accident.   A rig employee was pinched by pipe handling equipment on drill floor. He suffered lacerations and a broken left wrist and hand. He was taken to a local hospital. He was injured while trying to repair the pipe handling equipment.

18-Jun-2001 - Chevron U.S.A. Inc.
(also listed as Explosion and Fire)

Remarks: Contract construction crew was in the process of removing parts of a gas compressor and cutting a base plate on the east end of the compressor and over a collection tank of good/bad oil. The tank was pumped out using the suction line, leaving approximately 100 barrels of oil in the tank.  The fire watch was using water to cool the wet oil tank.  The platform was shut in and bled down. The welder was cutting over open grating above the bad oil side of the tank when an explosion and fire occurred. The explosion occurred inside the good/bad oil tank at 3:30 P.M., a seam ruptured, and the fire burned until 6:00 p.m. 

21-Jun-2001 - Westport Resources Corporation

Remarks: The operation at the time of the accident was driving pipe. The crew had just welded an 8-foot joint of 26 inch pipe and was lifting another joint into the V door.   A worker looked off, and the joint of pipe in the V door swung and pinned him to the snubbing post. He received multiple compound fractures to his lower left leg and foot. He was evacuated to a hospital.

02-Jul-2001 - BP Exploration & Oil Inc.

Remarks: In preparation to run a wellhead pack-off, the rig crew was moving a set of 13 ⁵/₈ inch flush mounted casing slips from the V-door to the rotary table. A four-way sling was connected to the casing slips and positioned at the V-door. The casing slips weigh approximately 6,500 pounds. The air hoist, although located near the V-door has its pulley (block) located near the center of the drill floor, and it was a logical choice to move this heavy tool to the rotary. The method being employed to move the slips was to pick up the slips slightly and to let the slips swing/drag across the rig floor to the rotary table. The air hoist operator began to make the lift while three crewmembers attempted to guide the slips toward the rotary and prevent them from swinging. During this operation, the slips were raised to a sufficient height that they were able to swing freely. As the slips began to swing toward the rotary table, they came in contact with the mousehole, which protruded approximately 5 inches above the drill floor, causing the slips to tilt and land on a floorman's left foot.

13-Jul-2001 - The William G. Helis Company, L.L.C.
(also listed as Loss of Well Control and Fatality)

Remarks: At 0415 hours the well started to flow up the drill pipe after the floor hands had set the slips, unscrewed the kelly, and made it up to the next joint of drill pipe in the mouse hole. The float valve had been removed from the bottomhole assembly prior to drilling out below the10 ¾ inch surface casing. The rig floor safety valve was stabbed, but would not close with two men applying torque to the handle. The two men were burned on their arms and back by the hot mud. The mud flowline temperature was approximately 150° Fahrenheit. A third man assisted in the attempt to close the valve, and sufficient torque was applied to the closing handle to shear it off at the key opening of the valve. When the valve was recovered later, the shear direction of the key indicated that the torque was applied in the correct direction. Because of the hot temperature of the mud, the men had to put on slicker suits and were sprayed with water to continue working on the rig floor. The floor hands removed the rig floor safety valve and attempted to stab the kelly, but the mud flow was too strong and too hot to stab the drill pipe. The mudflow increased until it was shooting over the top of the derrick. Gas began to flow with the mud from the drill pipe, and it became unsafe to continue work on the rig floor. The rig abandonment alarm was sounded at 0425 hours. Both capsules were loaded and departed the rig at 0430 hours. Because of excessive noise, it was impossible to complete a roll call. After the rig was abandoned, it was discovered that the ADTI night supervisor was missing from Capsule 2. The crew was picked up by the Coast Guard at approximately 0630 hours and transferred to a work boat and brought into the Tesoro base at Surf Side, Texas. The crew was transported by bus at 1030 hours to a hotel in Clute/Lake Jackson, Texas. The Coast Guard conducted a search for the missing person for two days, but the missing person has never been located and has been presumed dead. 

Additional information can be found in the investigation report, MMS 2002-062.

17-Jul-2001 - Samedan Oil Corporation

Remarks: A contract employee was climbing a ladder to the platform crane when the injury occurred. As he was handing some rags to another employee, he lost his handhold on the crane ladder and fell to the deck below. He broke one arm as a result of the fall.

21-Jul-2001 - RME Petroleum Company

Remarks: A casing hand was injured by a scavenger valve that struck him in the back. The valve was made up on a mud fill-up tool. The driller was attempting to turn the elevator, when the mud fill-up tool got hung up on the elevator bails, causing the scavenger valve to strip out of the mud fill-up tool and striking the casing hand. He has not returned to work as of August 30, 2001.

01-Aug-2001 - Union Oil Company of California

Remarks: A subsea engineer suffered an injury to the middle finger on his left hand while attempting to reposition the pin end of a coflex hose into the flange of an intermediate riser. During the efforts to reposition the pin, the equipment suddenly shifted and the tip of worker’s finger was severed when it became caught between the pin and the flange. The injured worker received care and attention from the rig’s medic and was transported to an orthopedic clinic for further evaluation. Due to the nature of the injury, it was necessary for doctors to remove a small portion of the worker’s fingertip. 

09-Aug-2001 - Dominion Exploration & Production, Inc.
(also listed as Fire)

Remarks: A small fire caused a first-degree burn on an employee’s left forearm. The fire occurred when the employee was manually draining condensate from a vapor recovery compressor 2^nd stage scrubber. The condensate made contact with the exhaust manifold and ignited. The fire was extinguished immediately with a 30 lb. dry chemical unit. This was not a lost time injury.  

14-Sept-2001 - Anadarko Petroleum Corporation

Remarks: While lowering a basket with the crane, a roustabout was standing in a pinch point. When the basket was lowered, it swung and struck the roustabout. The roustabout received minor back injuries.

25-Sep-2001 - Newfield Exploration Company

Remarks: A rig roustabout contractor had his fingers on his right hand smashed (middle three fingers) when his hand was pulled into a snatch block which was rigged up to the slings that were being used to move the BOP stack under the rig floor. He had his hand on the sling while a roughneck on the rig floor was operating the air tugger which operated the slings attached to the BOP stack.

09-Oct-2001 - Chevron U.S.A. Inc.

Remarks: While standing on a ladder, a rigger hooked onto one of the ladder rungs with the crane hook. The ladder support weld broke and the rigger and the ladder fell together. The rigger injured his left ankle. 

13-Oct-2001 - Remington Oil and Gas Corporation
(also listed as Fatality)

Remarks: Stands of pipe were being racked into the derrick pipe rack fingers during a trip out of the hole. As a third stand of pipe was being racked into the nine-stand pipe rack finger, the pipe rack finger broke loose and fell approximately 85 feet to the rig floor. As it fell, the pipe rack finger struck one man on the crown of his hard hat, killing him, and then hit another on the right forearm, injuring him.

Additional information can be found in the investigation report, MMS 2002-059.

13-Oct-2001 - Dominion Exploration & Production, Inc.

Remarks: A company representative was in the process of bleeding pressure (gas) from a glycol pump through a ½ inch manual block valve to ³/₈ inch stainless steel tubing to the skid pan. The ³/₈ inch tubing became uncontrolled and struck the operator on the left side of his face. 

26-Oct-2001 - Shell Offshore Inc.

Remarks: At approximately 11:30 a.m., a contract roustabout was in the process of painting a gear unit platform and ladder of the bowleg of the rig. The employee was wearing a full body harness hooked up to a vertical life line with carabineer assembly to the cable sleeve grab device, when he stepped out on the fixed ladder to finish painting outside of the handrail. When the employee put his weight on the vertical lifeline, the top anchor assembly supporting the cable pulled loose and the employee fell approximately 18 feet to the deck below. The employee received two broken bones to his right foot and one broken bone to his left foot as a result of the fall. 

Immediately after the accident, the operator stopped use of all vertical lifeline systems and also put out a Safety Alert on the International Association of Drilling Contractors’ web site warning industry of this accident. 

19-Nov-2001 - Shell Deepwater Development Inc.
(also listed as Collision)

Remarks: While picking up anchors on the rig, a motor vessel moved over one of the rigs’ pontoons and punctured it. All hands except 9 were evacuated. Three of the hands jumped overboard and all other hands boarded lifeboats or life rafts. The 9 onboard counter-floated the rigs’ pontoons and leveled the rig. All personnel were picked up and put back on the rig. It is believed that the rig will have to be sent in to a shipyard for repairs. One galley hand was slightly injured during the evacuation. The rig was under contract to a drilling turnkey services company and was preparing to leave this location for Garden Banks to work for another operator.

28-Nov-2001 - BP Amoco Corporation

Remarks: An electrician and another contract employee were trying to lift a 222-lb. transducer out of a wooden crate when this accident occurred. The contract employee had the end of his right ring finger amputated when he got it caught under the crate as the two employees were attempting to lift the crate. It slipped out of their grip and caught his finger under the 222-lb. crate. 

Last Updated: 10/19/09, 11:52 AM