Alert 04 – 47 Improper Rigging Results in a Fatality
WHAT HAPPENED:
A drilling crewmember died when a twin clevis link used in a rig floor winch hoisting assembly failed, dropping a joint of drill pipe onto him. At the time of the accident, the drilling crew was laying drill pipe down the V-door ramp. This involved using a winch line to pick up pipe from the mouse hole and workers stand behind the pipe and push it over the edge of the rig floor onto the V-door ramp. The pipe is then lowered with the winch line — via the rig’s V-door ramp — to the catwalk below. The rig crewmember was under the pipe being pushed when the twin clevis link broke.