Posted by proforma on January 18, 2012 | No Comments
This MODU life boat launch drill turned deadly when the MODU plunged 60 feet into the water, killing one and injuring six. This video appeared on the Drilling Ahead World Oilfield Network.
Tags:accident, fatality, offshore GOM, oilfield worker
Filed Under: Workplace Safety
Posted by proforma on November 21, 2011 | No Comments
Pinched fingers may not seem life threatening, but represent the kinds of injuries that are completely avoidable if the correct tools are made available. In this instance, an offshore maintenance worker injured his fingers while moving a 3 ft. by 3 ft. floor grating. The after action review found this had become a common practice at this installation.
Tags:offshore GOM, oilfield worker
Filed Under: Workplace Safety
Posted by proforma on September 11, 2011 | No Comments
Houston Chronicle reported Sept.9, 2011, that a top adminstration official said the U.S. government will initiate a long process for setting new offshore drilling safety standards after the joint federal investigation into the Deepwater Horizon is completed.
Tags:Add new tag, Deepwater Horizon, offshore GOM, Workplace Safety
Filed Under: Workplace Safety
Posted by proforma on October 28, 2010 | No Comments
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has allowed deepwater drilling to resume, following the report from Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) Director Michael R. Bromwich. Salazar is directing Bromwich to ensure that each operator demonstrate it has blowout containment resources promptly available in the event of an incident. As described in the DOI press release on October 12, 2010: “BOEM will conduct inspections of each deepwater drilling operation for compliance with regulations, including but not limited to the testing of BOPs.”
In Director Bromwich’s report, you’ll find information related to safety:
- The Safety Interim Final Rule page 10
- The Workplace Safety Rule page 12
- Safety inspections page 13
Tags:BOEMRE, deepwater, Deepwater Horizon, DOI, offshore GOM
Filed Under: Workplace Safety
Posted by proforma on July 22, 2010 | No Comments
Because of brewing storms, BP has installed a cement plug in a relief well that’s been drilled to within about five feet (1.5 meters) of the damaged Macondo well. Senior Vice President Kent Wells told reporters on a conference call that BP may be required to evacuate crews. See details on Bloomberg.
Tags:Deepwater Horizon, Macondo Well, offshore GOM, Oil Spill Cleanup, Workplace Safety Filed Under: Workplace Safety
Posted by proforma on June 6, 2010 | No Comments
The Deepwater Horizon is a tragedy first and foremost because of the loss of 11 lives, but also because of the continued impact on Gulf of Mexico residents, wildlife, property and businesses, and on the companies, employees and shareholders associated with the spill, including BP, Anadarko Petroleum and Matsui Oil Exploration (minority partners), Transocean, Halliburton and Cameron. All are facing scores of lawsuits for damages and liabilities.
The reputation of BP has sunk precipitously and the affects will be felt by the nation and the energy industry for many years.
Wall Street Journal reported that “BP made choices over the course of the project that rendered this well more vulnerable to the blowout.”
Shareholders have sued the board of BP Plc for failing to monitor safety and exposing the company to liability.
Some Deepwater Horizon workers said that safety was paramount for BP and Transocean. But two workers have charged the companies with cutting corners on safety and neglecting maintenance in favor of higher profits.
On June 1, global jitters sent the Dow dropping nearly 100 points upon news the U.S. Government has initiated a criminal probe.
In his 30-Day Safety Report, Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior, has called for aggressive new operating standards and safety requirements.
Tags:accident, fatality, Fire, offshore GOM
Filed Under: Workplace Safety
Posted by proforma on April 6, 2010 | No Comments
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has just issued a safety alert for spring return valves used in offshore oil operations. Recently, a pipeline emergency shut down valve (ESDV) failed, leaving the primary platform isolation device inoperable with the valve in the open position.
Other ESDVs have been found to be at risk for similar failures, as are spring return valves other than ESDVs.
Tags:offshore GOM, oilfield worker, Workplace Safety
Filed Under: Workplace Safety
Posted by proforma on March 30, 2010 | No Comments
In this instance, an oilfield driller didn’t know the correct valve position for water supplied to the auxiliary hydromatic brake. Unfortunately, the valve wasn’t labeled to indicate open or close positions, either. So after accidentally shutting off the water supply to the auxiliary hydromatic brake, he found the drawworks brakes were overheating; the blocks and the elevators struck the rotary table, bending the joint of pipe in the elevators.
Tags:accident, offshore GOM, oilfield worker, Workplace Safety
Filed Under: Workplace Safety
Posted by proforma on January 12, 2010 | No Comments
Here’s a situation where alarm bells should have sounded at the first sniff. Operations personnel at an offshore Gulf of Mexico location occasionally smelled a gas/condensate odor in the motor control center (MCC) building but did not investigate the source of the odor. Subsequently a fire occurred inside one of the air conditioner evaporator enclosures located on top of the building. Minerals Management Service (MMS) investigated and found that gas had migrated through the AC evaporator enclosure’s drain line and accumulated inside the AC evaporator. Read MMS’s recommendations here.
Tags:Fire, MMS, offshore GOM, oilfield worker, Workplace Safety
Filed Under: Workplace Safety
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