Over the last 30 years of my career, I have seen a dramatic shift in the safety requirements in the water well/environmental drilling industry. Thinking back to my first day in the field, the safety instructions were — “here’s your hard hat, do you have steel toed boots? Don’t get hurt.” The drilling industry has certainly progressed since 1984. Now, most companies have embraced a safety culture and have implemented policies and procedure focused on workplace/worker safety.
Before we can work at many sites, or for specific consultants/owners, drillers may need to complete massive safety prequalification forms. Some large companies that hire drillers, like general contractors, oil companies and consulting engineers, have even outsourced their prequalification process to third party companies like BROWZ, PICS and ISNetworld. Once we get past the safety qualification process, employees are required to attend training classes and be qualified to work on equipment at the jobsite. We have daily tailgate safety meetings to discuss the hazards of the work to be performed during the shift and we complete reams of paperwork, all in the name of safety.