January 29, 2020 | Safety Meeting

© January 29th, 2020, American Directional Driller®

Make safety a priority! Complacency and poor job training are the natural enemies of personal safety. Your loved ones want you to return home safely from the drilling rig. Cutting a corner to save five minutes will eventually create hours of investigative paperwork, a visit from office management, and perhaps even the government too. Your job security will be at risk when you tempt fate and gamble with the health and safety of others. Do it right the first time.

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Without proper leadership, safety meetings can become dull and repetitive. The green hats on location will probably struggle through finding topics for the safety meeting. Share this link with them! American Directional Driller® has created a quick list of oilfield specific safety meeting topics. Here are 99 items to discuss at the next shift change. 

1. Vehicle collision with a person or animal
2. Vehicle collision with another vehicle off-location
3. Vehicle collision on-location, heavy equipment (forklift, front loader, excavator, etc.)
4. Vehicle collision, failure to use seat belt
5. Vehicle collision caused by cell phone usage or other distractions
6. Vehicle stranded with no cell phone service, running out of fuel, too cold for the engine to start, poor vehicle maintenance, or bad weather conditions (fog, heavy rain, flash flood, snow, ice, sleet, avalanche danger, hurricane, etc.)
7. Vehicle speed too high for road or weather conditions
8. Driving under the influence of prescription drugs, illicit drugs, alcohol, or while sleep deprived
9. Driving at nighttime – poor visibility
10. Road hazards from poor rig road maintenance
11. Vehicle not properly reverse-parked in case of emergency
12. Vehicle blocking the exit in case of emergency
13. Workplace violence
14. Horseplay leading to injury
15. Hoisting accident caused by drug or alcohol use
16. Hoisting accident caused by sleep depravation
17. Hoisting accident caused by excessive energy drink consumption
18. Hoisting accident caused by distraction / grief / personal tragedy
19. Hearing damage from acute noise exposure
20. Hearing damage from chronic noise exposure
21. Loss of sight due to falling object or projectile object (puncture, laceration, cut)
22. Loss of sight due to chemical irritation in the eyes
23. Loss of sight due to failure to use proper safety glasses (i.e. fashionable sunglasses that are not ANSI Z87 safety rated)
24. Loss of sight due to failure to even wear safety glasses
25. Lung damage due to chemical exposure
26. Lung damage due to inhalation of smoke from a fire
27. Lung damage due to inhalation of fine particles or industrial dust
28. Lack of oxygen in confined space – oxygen deficient atmosphere
29. Enriched oxygen environment – increased fire hazard
30. Skin burns caused by steam from the boiler
31. Skin burns caused by hot hydraulic fluid, hydraulic hose failure
32. Chemical burns on the skin
33. Tripping on electrical cables
34. Tripping on uneven ground
35. Tripping on damaged stairs or walkway
36. Tripping over unorganized rig equipment
37. Falling while skipping steps
38. Falling on stairs while carrying heavy objects
39. Falling while running on stairs
40. Falling on stairs while not using handrail
41. Falling off the catwalk
42. Falling / slipping due to ice on the catwalk or ice on location
43. Falling / slipping due to oil-based mud on the rig floor
44. Falling while working at heights without proper fall protection equipment
45. Falling down v-door when the gate is open
46. Falling because of damaged or missing guard rail on elevated walkway
47. Falling onto shakers
48. Falling into mixing tanks
49. Falling down mountain while hiking near the rig location
50. Abduction while walking off-location
51. Abduction while working / traveling through high-risk countries
52. Hit by object falling down v-door
53. Hit by object falling from derrick
54. Hit by object falling from rig-floor
55. Hit by object falling while using tugger / air-hoist
56. Hit by the travelling block due to poor maintenance – slip and cut necessary
57. Hit by object due to failure to use tag lines while hoisting equipment
58. Hit by object due to frayed nylon lifting straps, poor inspection
59. Failure to use hand signals while hoisting
60. Failure to use hand signals while communicating with heavy equipment operator
61. Overexertion while lifting or working
62. Improper lifting technique – muscle strain/sprain
63. Failure to use lock-out, tag-out procedure, pressure release
64. Failure to use lock-out, tag-out procedure, electrocution
65. High pressure fluid release or hammer union projectile
66. Blow out
67. Gas kick
68. Well control incident
69. Fire caused by flaring
70. Smoking near flammable gasses or liquids
71. Static charge ingiting flammable gasses or liquids
72. Burns caused by failure to wear fire retardant clothing
73. Fire retardant coveralls that have been washed too many times, need replacement
74. Failure to use natural fiber or cotton base layer (underwear) versus wearing polyester fibers
75. Failure to wear impact gloves while making BHA
76. Hoisting BHA components up the v-door
77. Pinch points, installing MWD/LWD into non-magnetic drill collars
78. Pinch points, dropping lifting subs
79. While making up BHA, object falls from block or top drive
80. Inhalation of toxic gasses
81. H2S, failure to prepare emergency equipment
82. H2S, running to save another person and becoming exposed to H2S
83. Carbon monoxide poisoning
84. Walking into an invisible and odorless fire
85. Lithium battery explosions from MWD/LWD tools
86. Nuclear radiation from LWD tools and nuclear sources
87. Failure to wear a radiation dosimeter badge when necessary
88. Extremely hot weather, heat stroke & dehydration
89. Extremely cold weather, frost bite or hypothermia
90. Intrinsically safe electronics and cables to prevent fire
91. Ingestion of foreign substances
92. Accidental injection of foreign substances
93. Undisclosed medical conditions
94. Back injuries caused by lifting, twisting, climbing, etc.
95. Crime near the rig location
96. Venomous snakes, spiders, lizards, scorpions, etc.
97. Disease carrying cockroaches, rats, mice, birds, etc.
98. Aggressive farm animals or wild animals on location
99. Electrocution or arc flash

And if this list wasn’t long enough, go check out the archive from the OSHA database.

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Thank you for supporting small businesses like American Directional Driller ®.

© January 29th, 2020, American Directional Driller®