Alert 13 – 22 Equipment Failure During Perforating Results in Near Miss
WHAT HAPPENED:
While removing the spent perforating gun from the hole after perforating the 5th stage of a horizontal hydraulically fractured completion, the wire rope parted from the rope socket allowing the gun to fall to the ground. There were no injuries or damage.
The lubricator had been lifted from the wellhead and positioned 50 feet (15.24 meters) above the ground to lower the 30 foot (9.14 meters) long spent perforating gun. The gun was lowered out of the lubricator to within 1 foot (30.5cm) of the ground when the rope socket failed thus allowing the gun to drop vertically to ground level and then fall over onto the ground.