Those of you who are regular readers of this column know that I usually write about “what I know.” This is an option given all of us columnists for National Driller by our editor. The emphasis for this month is job safety, training and education. This column is about job safety, some accidents I have heard about or seen with my own eyes and, unfortunately, experienced myself.
It goes without saying that anyone in this industry — that being well drilling and pump installation and service — understands that this is a dangerous occupation. We operate some kind of power equipment, be it a drilling rig, a pump hoist, a power threader, a hand drill and on and on, at every job. I read once and believe it to be true that the average person can produce about one-eighth of a horsepower. Just about every piece of equipment we use will produce far more than one-eighth horsepower. Much of the equipment we operate utilizes 1,000 times that amount. I bring this up in that many times an accident victim says, “It happened so fast and it hit so hard.” Well, of course it did. Doing something that’s not smart for even a fraction of a second can hurt you badly, or maybe kill you.