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What Happened in Pittsburg County, Oklahoma? Adapted from Information by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board It was January 22, 2018, when an oil rig in Oklahoma suffered a deadly blowout, killing five workers. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has been investigating the incident to try to identify what caused the accident and, more importantly, what can be done to prevent something like this from happening again. In addition to spotting gaps in the regulations governing onshore drilling safety, the report discovered inadequacies in safety management systems and industry standards. CSB Interim Executive Dr. Kristen Kulinowski said, “Our investigation found significant lapses in good safety practices at this site. For over 14 hours, there was a dangerous condition build- ing at this well. The lack of effective safety manage- ment at this well resulted in a needless catastrophe.” According to the report, the ultimate cause of the blowout and rig fire was the failure of two preventive barriers. The primary barrier was the hydrostatic pressure in the well, produced by drilling mud; the secondary barrier was human detection of gas flowing into or expanding in the well and acti- vation of the rig’s blowout preventer. The report explains how unplanned underbalanced drilling and tripping operations allowed a large quantity of gas to enter the well, while critical flow checks, used to determine if gas is in the well, were not performed. The investigation identified several factors leading to the failure of both barriers including a lack of planning, training, equipment, skills, and procedures. Surprisingly, there are no regulations specifically for onshore gas and oil drilling. Gas and oil well drilling is exempt from Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) Process Safety Management standard which covers safety for chemical processing facilities. OSHA has been utilizing the general duty clause, which “protects workers from serious and recognized workplace hazards,” but fails to address the unique safety hazards associated with gas and oil drilling. The report also revealed how inadequate and ineffective the alarm system was. It would have sounded constantly with noncritical alarms 14 hours prior to the blowout. Having so many noncritical alarms is most likely the reason both the day and night drill operators chose to turn off the entire system. Without the critical alarms, the workers were unaware of the flammable gas entering the well. Investigator Lauren Grim said, “An effective alarm system is a method to help workers become aware of hazardous conditions, like gas entering the well. With the alarm system off, the safety of the operation solely relied on workers to either visually identify signs of the gas influx or calculate volume differences that could indicate gas influx, and in this case, neither method was effective, and workers were unaware of the very large gas influx into the well before the incident. As a result, the workers had little knowledge of the impending disaster.” At the time of the blowout, three workers were in the driller’s cabin. Two other work- ers who were on the rig floor ran into the driller’s cabin during the blowout and fire. There was no way for the men to escape and they suffered thermal burn injuries, as well as smoke / soot inhalation. “When the blowout mud and gas ignited, it created a massive fire on the rig floor. All five of the workers inside the driller’s cabin were effectively trapped because fire blocked the driller’s cabin’s two exit doors. Our investigation found that there is no guidance to ensure that an emergency evacuation option is present onboard these rigs or can protect workers in the driller’s cabin from fire hazards,” stated Grim. The CSB is calling on the American Petroleum Institute (API) to address design improvements to protect driller’s cabin occupants from blowout and fire hazards. The report recommendedAPI create guidance onAlarmManagement for the drilling industry, to help ensure alarm systems are effective in alerting drilling crews to unsafe conditions. As onshore gas and oil production increases across the country, it is important the industry uses proven and reliable safety standards and practices. If some of these safety practices had been in place, this tragedy could have been averted. The most viable exit door for those in the driller’s cabin was hinged so when the door was opened, it blocked the escape path. Atlantis Vault • Self-Contained • Simple installation • Trouble-free operation For more information call: (270) 786-3010 or visit us online: www.geothermalsupply.com 23 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® AUGUST 2019 LOOK Surprise, surprise, surprise Heisey Machine is on Facebook! www.facebook.com/floatingsubs/ Check it out - follow and like it. Ask about their new 2470SX lathe. They hope you had a great time at JUBILEE! G&O