Other fall to lower level 26 to 30 feet · Fractures
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Latshaw Drilling and Exploration, LLC, 20 miles south of Pecos, TX, PECOS, TEXAS 79772
on — Fractures, affecting the back, including spine, spinal cord, unspecified.
Final narrative
On July 27, 2015, a work crew was rigging up. At approximately 11:45 PM, a guardrail was installed. Before the workers secured it with bolts, the injured employee leaned against it and fell 26 feet to the ground below. He sustained five small fractures to his back and was hospitalized.
HospitalizedBack, including spine, spinal cord, unspecifiedOil drilling rigs and machinery
More severe injuries at Latshaw Drilling and Exploration, LLC
An employee was laying down bridging (angle iron that is welded onto open web joists). He was moving backward toward the edge of a joist when his foot slipped. He lost balance and fell backward away from the structure and landed on the ground about 30 feet below. The employee sustained a broken right leg. The employee was wearing a harness but it was not connected at the time of the fall.
On June 16, 2023, an employee was checking the I-beams on a bridge. He unhooked his harness to move across the section of the second beam. While hooking his harness on the third beam, his foot hit the cable that was connected to the beam and fell approximately 25 to 30 feet to the muddy clay floor below. The employee sustained a left hip and femur fracture.
An employee was using a 60-foot ladder to access the fourth floor of a building in order to paint the balcony. The employee was holding onto the handrail while painting it when the handrail brackets broke, causing him to fall approximately 30 feet to the ground and land on top of air conditioning units. The employee suffered severe lacerations on the face and fractures to the cheekbones and eye bones. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee entered a portable structure that was being rigged up to a crane. The crane began lifting the portable structure with the employee inside when the structure fell 15-30 feet to the ground. The employee sustained a left leg fracture, a dislocated right ankle, and back injury.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 213111)
An employee was stepping down off a 6-inch containment platform to finish loading his truck, when his right ankle rolled. The employee sustained a fractured tibia and fibula at the right ankle and required surgery.
A service crew was pulling a pump and motor from a well. After breaking a joint of pipe loose from another joint, an employee grabbed the chain tongs to prevent the pipe from spinning in the well, so the crew could continue taking it apart. The bolt that attaches the chain to the handle of the chain tongs broke, causing the chain to swing around and strike the employee's lower right leg. The chain severely punctured his leg and fractured his tibia.
An employee arrived on location and loaded a blow-out-preventer (BOP) on a 1-ton flatbed truck. While standing on the flatbed securing the the BOP, the employee stepped into a void/hole on the flatbed surface. This caused him to lose balance and fall off the truck bed with his leg still caught in the hole. As a result, he sustained fractures to his left leg.
An employee was rigging up a location. He was using an Allen wrench to free up rotation and start the drawworks engine manually. The engine rotated and his left little finger became caught between the Allen wrench and the engine. The employee sustained an amputation to his little finger and fractures to his wrist.
After cutting a slab of beef short ribs, an employee turned to grab the pieces he had cut and his right hand contacted the saw blade. The employee sustained an amputation to his right index finger.
An employee was unloading a carpet pad from a truck when they fell from the truck dock to the concrete below, resulting in five fractured ribs and an injury to their left lung.
An employee was walking up a walkway to enter a building through the back entrance when she tripped over the lip of the cement ramp. The employee fell and sustained a fractured right hip.