Alert 10 – 29 Near Miss – Dropped Tong Weight
WHAT HAPPENED:
After changing out the rig floor drill pipe tongs, a rig crew member went up the derrick to remove weight from the tong counter-balance weight bucket. He removed two steel weights and tied them to the rig floor winch line with sash cord. While lowering the weight to the floor, the sash cord broke, allowing the weights to fall 60 feet to the rig floor.