Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Patterson-UTI Energy Inc, Rig 248 GPS Coordinates: N 30.1617 W-96.7602, GIDDINGS, TEXAS 78942
on — Amputations, affecting the fingertip(s).
Final narrative
An employee was pushing back a stand of drill pipe on a rig floor. He slipped and fell forward, putting his hands out in front of him to brace his fall. The drill pipe moved back slightly and pinched his right index and middle fingers against the rig floor, resulting in the amputation of the two fingertips above the first knuckle.
An employee was assisting with pinning a set of stairs when the stairs shifted and struck the employee. The employee was pinched between the stairs and a stationary forklift, resulting in a pelvis fracture.
An employee was unscrewing and separating a connection of a drill pipe when drilling mud sprayed out of the connection, causing the employee to fall backward and strike his face on a piece of equipment. The employee suffered a laceration on his lip and a facial fracture.
An employee was walking across the rig floor carrying a large bolt, called a connecting pin, when he tripped on an object and fell to the floor. The bolt impacted the end of his left ring finger and amputated the fingertip.
An employee was closing a manhole cover in the floor of a mud pit when a disconnected 6-inch discharge line lying next to the cover shifted, pinching the end of the employee's finger between the floor grating and the discharge line. The employee suffered an amputation of the tip of his left middle finger.
An employee was working in the forest flagging an area to be harvested. He took a step and his foot slipped on a stick hidden under the leaves, causing him to fall to the ground. He landed on his right foot/lower leg resulting in a fractured tibia.
An employee was inspecting an apartment to ensure it was ready for a new resident to move in. The carpet in the apartment had been recently cleaned and was still wet. As the employee went from the carpet to the tiled floor of the bathroom, they slipped and fell, resulting in a torn left hamstring.
An employee was delivering a letter along a rural carrier route when she stepped on an ice-covered snow drift, slipped, and fell to the ground. The employee sustained a right hip fracture that required surgery.
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.