{"id":374,"date":"2009-02-08T10:08:32","date_gmt":"2009-02-08T15:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/?p=374"},"modified":"2022-04-15T10:10:48","modified_gmt":"2022-04-15T14:10:48","slug":"a-good-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/2009\/02\/a-good-job\/","title":{"rendered":"A Good Job"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the October 2008 newsletter<\/a> of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia\n(IOGAWV) there was an article by Greg Kozera (starting on page 9) about the\neconomic benefits of oil and gas. Greg was using the example of a well crew:
\n
\n\u201cThe drilling supervisor was probably in his 50s, two of his crew were in their\n20s and the third was 19, according the supervisor. I understood from the\nsupervisor that they got paid fairly well and had good benefits. . . . Where\nelse could three men with high school diploma be so successful so quickly?\u201d
\n
\nWhat Greg didn\u2019t write about was the high fatality rate for oil and gas workers\n— higher than the mining industry\u2019s. In another post I\u2019ll write a little about\nthe Australian Health Watch Study of workers\u2019 health and issues related to\nexposures to petroleum products. The Australian study is underwritten by the\nindustry there; I know of no similar long term study in this country. That is\ntelling, isn\u2019t it?
\n
\nInstead, what I\u2019ll present is the tip of the iceberg about worker injury and\nfatality, for which a good deal is known. The U.S. Department of Labor\u2019s Bureau\nof Labor Statistics asked the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)\nto investigate the dramatic rise in fatalities a few years ago and the CDC report can be read here<\/a>. Essentially what was found was a direct link between the\nnumber of workers killed and the number of rigs used in drilling and workovers\neach year. The boom in drilling that began shortly after 2000 and reached a\nfever pitch a few years later had side effects that industry doesn\u2019t want to\ntalk about. Besides the environmental degradation, workers were being killed.
\n
\nThe National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) produced a safety manual for oil and gas workers<\/a> back in the 1980s and to the best of my knowledge it\u2019s\nnever been updated. The IOGAWV has their own, downloadable, safety manual<\/a>\nwhich looks good but I wonder how many workers see something like this, much\nless are encouraged to study it.
\n
\nOne of the issues for us is to remember that individuals involved in the oil\nand gas industry are people, that they have pride in what they are doing. We\nhave to be continually aware of that pride, even though we often have issues in\nhow they are doing their jobs or in the outcomes of their efforts.
\n
\nThere\u2019s a good story at the High Country News<\/em><\/strong> website, Disposable Workers of the Oil and Gas Fields<\/em><\/a> by Ray Ring<\/a>,\nthat we recommend. Closer to home is this story from a 1984 accident in West\nVirginia that is taken from NIOSH\u2019s Fatal Accident Circumstances and\nEpidemiology (FACE) Project. This is quoted from FACE 8502<\/a>:
\n
\nOn the day of the accident, at approximately 7:30 a.m., a five-man crew\nassembled in the office of the field supervisor to receive their instructions for\nthe day. The crew consisted of two service rig hands (hereafter designated \u201crig\nhands\u201d) and their supervisor, the service rig operator (hereafter designated \u201coperator\u201d).\nIn addition, the rig supervisor (hereafter designated \u201csupervisor\u201d) and the\nservice rig tool pusher (hereafter designated \u201ctool pusher\u201d) were assigned to\nthe crew so that the supervisor could instruct the tool pusher in the assembly\nand usage of the packing and down hole tools necessary to complete the job. The\ncrew was informed that they were to \u201cblow the well down\u201d (relieve the internal\npressure). If they could get the pressure down to acceptable levels, they were\nto start putting the tubing down. All members of the crew were familiar with\nthe procedures necessary to blow down the well and insert the tubing. The crew\nbegan to work by about 8:30 a.m.<\/em>
\n
\nWhen the well Is \u201cblown down,\u201d gas, water, acid, and occasionally oil are\nreleased. These substances are directed into the fracturing tanks through\ntwo-inch steel \u201cflow back\u201d lines. Because of the pressure exerted on these\nlines, they are secured to the tanks with safety chains. When sufficient steel\nlines are not available to plumb in all of the tanks, a high pressure, double\nwalled, two-inch rubber hose, called a Kelly hose, is used as a flow back line.\nWhen the Kelly hose is used, it must be tied down, both to the inside and\noutside of the tank, to prevent it from whipping around when the well is\nflowing during blow down.<\/em>
\n
\nBy approximately 9:30 a.m., the well had blown down sufficiently to begin\ninserting the tubing, so the operator and one of the rig hands began to disconnect\nthe well from the fracturing tanks. The remaining members of the crew (the\nsupervisor, tool pusher, and one rig hand) were near the service rig,\nassembling the down hole equipment when they heard the operator yell that the\nrig hand was in the tank. The operator then entered the tank himself. Despite\nwarnings by the rig supervisor to stay out of the tank, the other rig hand\nentered the tank, followed by the tool pusher. When the supervisor got to the\ntop of the tank and looked in, he could only see two of the men and they were\nunresponsive and \u201cdazed looking.\u201d He immediately got off of the tank and opened\nthe valves to release the water in the tank. He then called for help on the\ntruck radio.<\/em>
\n
\nWhen the call was received at the office, the rescue squad was notified, and\narrangements were made to have the supervisor of a second crew meet the\nambulance and give them directions. In the meantime, the rig hands from the\nsecond crew proceeded to the site to provide additional assistance, and other\nsupervisors and employees proceeded to the site as well.<\/em>
\n
\nWhen the two rig hands from the second crew arrived, they helped the\nsupervisor remove two clean-out panels at the bottom of the tank. By this time,\nmost of the liquids had been drained from the bottom of the tank. When the\npanels were removed, the bodies of the operator and tool pusher were found\nlying on the bottom, of the tank. One of the rig hands was found standing in\nthe tank, but was unresponsive; the other rig hand, also unresponsive, was\nfound attempting to climb up the internal support bars of the tank, but\nappeared ready to fall. The two rig hands who had entered the tank and survived\nthe incident reported that within 10 – 15 seconds of entering, they were\novercome by the gas. They could not remember anything past that point.<\/em>
\n
\nThe autopsy reports indicated that the rig operator and the tool pusher died\nby drowning due to asphyxiation.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the October 2008 newsletter of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia (IOGAWV) there was an article by Greg Kozera (starting on page 9) about the economic benefits of oil and gas. Greg was using the example of a well crew: \u201cThe drilling supervisor was probably in his 50s, two of his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gaswellstudy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":375,"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374\/revisions\/375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}