Contact with objects and equipment, unspecified · Fractures
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Patterson-UTI Drilling Company LLC, 10713 W Sam Houston Pkwy N, Suite 800, HOUSTON, TEXAS 77064
on — Fractures, affecting the thigh(s).
Final narrative
An employee was securing a well cap when it slid off the side of the sub-base, pinning his right leg against the sub-base and breaking his femur.
On September 18, 2025, an employee was descending stairs on a rig floor when he fell on the third step from the top and landed on his right foot, which then turned inward. The employee suffered a fracture that required hospitalization.
An employee was standing on a piece of equipment called a K-brace, approximately 3.5 feet off the ground. He was working to assemble part of the K-brace. He was driving a metal pin with a sledgehammer and put the sledgehammer on the ground. He then hopped off the K-brace backward and struck the handle of the sledgehammer as he came to the ground. The employee was hospitalized with a laceration to his left buttocks and a fractured tailbone.
An employee fell onto a rig floor while a stand of drill pipe was being moved nearby. The employee had just braced himself, putting his hand out in front of him, when the stand of pipe was set down on the floor. It crushed the employee's left ring finger, resulting in an amputation to the finger.
An employee was standing on the ground while rolling a pony sub from the forks of a forklift onto a catwalk. The sub shifted and fell approximately two feet onto the top of their right safety boot. The employee was hospitalized with a fractured foot that required surgery.
Two employees were carrying a drill bit and installation tool to the center of a drilling rig floor. One of them slipped and fell, and the drill bit and installation tool landed on his left hand. He suffered an open fracture and partial amputation of the last joint of the little finger, as well as a laceration to the ring finger.
Two employees were struck by the rotary table of a drilling rig while installing caisson. Employee 1 suffered multiple fractures, internal injuries, and head trauma. Employee 2 suffered multiple fractures, internal injuries, spinal injury, and head trauma.
Employees were felling hazard trees. The injured employee was conducting 'bucking' operations to saw a tree from the road when the tree kicked-back, pinning him against the ground and fracturing his left femur. The employee was hospitalized and required surgery.
An employee was chaining a vehicle when he had to change tools and the compressor. As the compressor was being charged, the employee stepped near the vehicle to make sure the compressor was attached. Then, he instructed a co-worker to lower the compressor. His right hand was on the compressor and under the chain, causing his ring finger to be crushed.
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.