During drilling activities in a deep well, a significantly damaged I-beam located below the drilling rig crown block was identified when a melted piece of metal fell to the rig floor. The drill line was spooled incorrectly and had cut almost completely through the I-beam, which was located below the crown block and water table. This could have led to a serious incident.

A fatality occurred on July 7, 2022, shortly after 3 am at an oilsands shovel pad location. A team was lowering a pendant cable assembly from a crane when the pendant cable fell resulting in a fatal injury.

The driver of a tank truck was unloading fluid at a production facility. The driver was found unresponsive inside the pump box of their truck with their left arm sleeve entangled in the pump shaft. After an hour and 30 minutes of resuscitation efforts by workers and emergency response personnel, the worker was declared deceased from mechanical asphyxiation.

A rig crew was in the process of rigging out. One worker verified that the plug (“male”) end of a 240-volt power cord was not connected and placed the cord alongside the pipe rack. Like a household power cord, the plug is the end that would normally be inserted into the electrical outlet, or panel, for power. Unbeknownst to these workers, this electrical panel had the opposite configuration, and the socket (female) end of the cord was still attached to the power panel.

A well service crew was swabbing when the swab assembly reached the top of the well and parted the sand line. The rig manager was manually spooling the last six wraps of the sand line and became entangled in the parted line. The driller reacted, moving the throttle in the wrong direction and energized the line, which cinched on the rig manager’s leg. The rig manager was launched into the raising ram of the service rig and sustained a leg amputation and other serious injuries.

In response to a manufacturer’s notification, a midstream company conducted an exposure assessment of hexavalent chromium in a previously unidentified location. This assessment identified the need for controls to prevent overexposure.

During pigging operations on a temporary water transfer line, a pig became stuck due to an ice blockage and pressure was trapped upstream of the pig. When it was freed, the pig and trapped pressure behind it traveled down the line causing a loose clamp to unfasten. The pressure release caused the disconnected hose to swing and strike a worker on the leg, causing serious injury.

A service rig crew was lowering casing pipe into the channel slide when it snagged on the edge of the channel. This caused the travelling block assembly and tubing elevators to swing past the tubing tong line. The elevators opened and the pipe was released, striking a worker in the face on the catwalk below. The worker was seriously injured.

While servicing a well, a floorhand pushed a suspended rod string over the floor. As it was lowered to latch into the transfers, the rod string got hung up on the rig floor causing the rod to twist and detach from the rod transfer and carabiner. The rod transfer and rod string fell approximately 14 meters, and the rod transfer struck the floorhand on the wrist causing injury.

During the setup of a telescopic service rig, the raising ram buckled. This caused the top section of the mast, which was almost fully extended, to drop out of the bottom section and fall. Damage to the rig was extensive. While no injuries occurred in this serious incident, it could have easily resulted in serious injury or loss of life.