OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14548028

NABORS ALASKA DRILLING CO

PRUDHOE BAY, AK— 1984-11-03T00:00:00

Event: BURN, HEAD, OIL WELL DRILLING, NATURAL GAS, EXPLOSION, NECK, FACE, MUD PIT, OIL RIG
NAICS: 000000
Inspection type: Accident-driven
Activity number: #14581813
Employer profile: NABORS ALASKA DRILLING CO
Summary number: 14548028
Report ID: 1050210

Event description

OIL WELL DRILLING RIG EXPLOSION

Investigation abstract

THIS OIL WELL WAS IN THE PROCESS OF BEING "KILLED" SO THAT TUBING COULD BE REPLA CED. AFTER PUMPING IN A "KILL PILL", THEY WERE BLEEDING OFF EXCESS GAS THROUGH T HE RIG CHOKING SYSTEM AND INTO THE "GAS BUSTER" IN THE MUD PITS. THEY WERE BLEED ING THE GAS OFF TOO QUICKLY FOR THE "GAS BUSTER" TO HANDLE AND SOME OF THE EXCES S GAS LEAKED INTO THE "MUD PITS". EMPLOYEE #1 WAS LEAVING THE PIT AREA WHEN THE ACCUMULATED GAS EXPLODED. THE SOURCE OF IGNITION IS NOT KNOWN. EMPLOYEE #1 RECEI VED 1ST, 2ND AND 3RD DEGREE BURNS TO HIS HEAD, FACE AND NECK.

Victim

#1 Hospitalized Age 33 M

Nature of injury
5

Part of body
13

Event type
14

Source
16

Occupation code
614

Human factor
17

Environmental factor
10

Hazardous substance
1640

Task assigned
1

Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.