Incident Prevention

Q. What is the most frequent cause of incidents?
A. Nine out of ten incidents can be traced to an employee’s unsafe actions, which may result from poor attitudes, lack of skill or poor knowledge of the job.

Q. In what ways are incidents costly?
A. Incidents cost a great deal in human suffering to the injured as well as their families. The cost of incidents is greater than medical and insurance costs. These costs include:
1. Losses due to weakened morale of uninjured employees.
2. Damage to equipment or materials.
3. Down time of the rig.
4. Loss of injured and uninjured employees’ productive time.
5. Loss of wages of injured employee.
6. Learning time of a “substitute” employee.
7. Loss of supervisory time needed to investigate incident, change work schedule, train new employee.

Q. How is lost time incidence rate computed?
A. Incidence Rate = No. of lost time incidents x 200,000
No. of man-hours worked

Q. How is the frequency rate of incidents computed?
A. Incident Frequency = No. of lost time incidents x 1,000,000
No. of man-hours worked

Q. How is incidence severity rate computed?
A. Incident Severity = No. of man days lost x 200,000
No. of man-hours worked

Q. How can incidence rates be used to control accidents?
A. These figures help show: (1) Progress or decline in accident prevention; (2) How safety performance compares with other rigs or companies; (3) Which operations are especially hazardous; and (4) Where better safety methods are needed.

Q. What steps should a Toolpusher or Driller take to make his rig safe for work?
A.
1. Fully recognize the importance of preventing occupational incidents and illnesses.
2. Help employees make safety a habit.
Start with:
3. Providing proper safety instruction to new employees.
4. Re-instructing older employees when necessary.
5. Building employee interest through one-on-one talks, safety exhibits, and scorecards.
6. Considering employee safety suggestions.
7. Establishing safety rules and seeing that they are followed.
8. Conducting hazard assessment of the work place and tasks.
9. Assisting crews in creating Job Safety Analysis of hazardous tasks. Utilize these JSAs in pre-job safety meetings.
10. Seeing that hazardous jobs are guarded and that equipment is in safety-shape.
11. Analyzing safety records to see where preventive action is needed.

Q. How does rig housekeeping affect safety?
A. A disorderly working area is an accident trap. It promotes incidents from tripping, bumping and falling objects. Poor housekeeping encourages carelessness.