Alert 09 – 24 Tripping Operation Results in a High-Potential Near Miss
WHAT HAPPENED:
After the derrick man unlatched the elevators to rack back a stand of drill pipe, the driller started to lower the top drive system down before ensuring that the drill pipe had cleared the top drive. The back-up wrench caught the edge of the box of the top joint of drill pipe, causing the drill pipe to slightly bow and spring forward. It was determined that one of the elevator link tilt adjustments on the top drive had slipped to a position which made it difficult for the derrickman to open the elevators as the arms did not move past the back-up wrench under normal operations. No injury or damage resulted.