Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Helmerich and Payne Inc., Flea Flicker 2WA, MENTONE, TEXAS 79754
on — Fractures , affecting the Wrist(s).
Final narrative
An employee was using a sledgehammer to loosen a hammer union. The employee's sledgehammer missed the hammer union causing him to lose his balance and fall on the ground. The employee sustained a fractured wrist.
Hospitalized Wrist(s) Ground, travel, and support surfaces unspecified
An employee was changing out a bolt on the kicker (moveable object) on the driller side of the PDS (stationary object) control box on the rig floor. The kicker came down on his right hand, catching it between the kicker and the trough. The employee sustained fractures to his thumb and index finger, as well as lacerations to the top and bottom of his hand.
A crew of employees was using a hoist to lift a drillable sub on the rig floor. Single-joint elevators were placed on the sub before lifting. As the crew started to lift the sub, the sub struck the derrick leg, causing the single-joint elevators to open and the sub to drop approximately 1 1/2 feet, striking the injured employee in the right leg below the knee. The employee suffered two leg fractures.
An employee was removing a drill pipe from a derrick. When the employee reached out to remove the winch line, the pipe rotated and the line caught the employee's left index finger. The finger was amputated at the first joint.
An employee was moving a 3-ton condensing unit, strapped down on a dolly, out of a garage. The strap broke, causing the employee to fall backward onto the brick pavered driveway. The employee suffered injury to a spinal ligament in the neck.
An employee was talking to a child on the playground, when the child grabbed her hand to lead her away. The employee stepped, lost her balance, and fell over. The employee was hospitalized with a fracture of her lower left leg and required surgery.
An employee was lowering a safe stack beam inside a trailer. The beam released, causing the employee to fall back and strike his head on the trailer floor. He was hospitalized with a brain bleed and a concussion.
An employee was on the ground working to close a trailer door. The door was caught by the wind and blew the employee backward. He landed on his back and sustained four fractured ribs, requiring hospitalization.
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.