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What happened?
A worker was on his break, walking to the canteen of a drilling rig.
While walking the stairs to the canteen the worker held the stair rail and touched the door handle.
He received an electric shock and collapsed.
The worker was taken to hospital whilst unconscious.
He died months later in hospital – a delayed death due to the original incident.
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Why did it happen?
Rainwater was leaking from the top of the canteen cabin to the spotlight, causing an electric current ‘leak’ to the canteen door.
When the worker touched both the door handle and the stair rail, the current flowed through their body.
The light had recently been moved by two non-certified electricians – it was in bad condition, had a poor grounding system and the circuit breaker did not work.
When moving the electric light to the roof, management of change (MOC) process was not followed, and the task was not supervised.
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What did they learn?
Ensure all electricians are verified as competent.
Establish and implement a MOC procedure to cover facility and equipment modification.
Establish and implement an electrical safety management program.
Enforce onsite supervision and regular audits to ensure compliance and good practices.
Ensure that onshore rigs comply with relevant legal requirements and contract requirements.
Review the ‘readiness to drill’ process to ensure compliance.
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Ask yourself or your crew
What should you do if you see water leaking anywhere on site?
How would you report it? What is your procedure?
What is your management of change process?
How do you ensure all the workers on your site are competent?
How often do you carry out hazard identification on your site? What other safety measures should we consider?
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What happened?
A worker was on his break, walking to the canteen of a drilling rig.
While walking the stairs to the canteen the worker held the stair rail and touched the door handle.
He received an electric shock and collapsed.
The worker was taken to hospital whilst unconscious.
He died months later in hospital – a delayed death due to the original incident.
Why did it happen?
Rainwater was leaking from the top of the canteen cabin to the spotlight, causing an electric current ‘leak’ to the canteen door.
When the worker touched both the door handle and the stair rail, the current flowed through their body.
The light had recently been moved by two non-certified electricians – it was in bad condition, had a poor grounding system and the circuit breaker did not work.
When moving the electric light to the roof, management of change (MOC) process was not followed, and the task was not supervised.
What did they learn?
Ensure all electricians are verified as competent.
Establish and implement a MOC procedure to cover facility and equipment modification.
Establish and implement an electrical safety management program.
Enforce onsite supervision and regular audits to ensure compliance and good practices.
Ensure that onshore rigs comply with relevant legal requirements and contract requirements.
Review the ‘readiness to drill’ process to ensure compliance.
Ask yourself or your crew
What should you do if you see water leaking anywhere on site?
How would you report it? What is your procedure?
What is your management of change process?
How do you ensure all the workers on your site are competent?
How often do you carry out hazard identification on your site? What other safety measures should we consider?
A worker was on his break, walking to the canteen of a drilling rig. The worker held the stair rail and touched the door handle at the same time and received an electric shock.
