Alert 08 – 14 Mud Pump Maintenance Results in Serious Injury
WHAT HAPPENED:
The swab in the #1 mud pump needed changing so Pump #1 was shut down and the #2 pump was placed in service. A lock was placed on the #1 pump circuit breaker. No other Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) requirements were performed. The crew changed the swab on the pump and the derrickman was tightening nuts on the rod clamp and hooking up the liner washer. The motorman called the driller telling him all they had left to do was rig up the liner washer and then went into the SCR house and removed the LOTO lock from the breaker panel. He went back to the mud house and called the driller telling him to “go ahead”. The driller turned the potentiometer on his control panel to prime the pump while the derrickman was still working on the pump. As a result the derrickman’s lower leg was caught between the rod clamp and mud pump when the pump was powered up and his lower leg was seriously injured