Shell EPW Wells HS

1
Shell EPW Wells HSE Learning Bulletin
Fountain Report Number 81882
Location Pinedale Rockies - Nabors 267
Incident Date 6-20-06
What happened
As the crew was pulling drill pipe out of the
hole, the Driller assigned the Derrickman the
driller duties so that he could focus on
supervising the two short service employees (SSE)
that were on the rig floor. The crew
successfully laid down seven joints of pipe with
this crew arrangement. As the derrickman was
unscrewing the eight joint with the top drive, he
mistakenly grabbed the rotary control lever
instead of the brake out lever, causing the
rotary to engage. This caused the lead tongs
(that were still attached to the drill string)
to rotate striking one of the SSE in the mouth,
knocking out two teeth. The injured employee
was transported to Rock Springs hospital,
examined and released to work on light duty
pending further dental specialist evaluation.

• Early Learning Points
• Per the Wells Out of Position (OOPs) policy, only
  competent persons shall be pre-approved to
  relieve all rig positions.
• Per SEPCo SSE Policy, all SSEs should be assigned
  individual mentors are who available to supervise
  SSE work practices.
• Scheduling of rig supervision crew change, off
  site meetings and training should be arranged to
  minimize disruption of continuous on-site
  supervision.

Brake out handle
Handle that was mistakenly pulled