OSHA rules on 4 fatalities
Two West Texas companies were cited for safety violations in the unrelated deaths of three employees earlier this year, and one was cleared.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed fining Robinson Drilling $17,000 for April and May incidents and Patterson-UTI Drilling Company $9,500.
Big Spring resident William Ryan Locke, 35, died April 1 on a rig near Highway 158 and FM 1788 in Midland County.
Locke was on a 12-foot ladder and tapped on a valve connection from a pump union. The union struck and destroyed the ladder, causing Locke to fall and be impaled on debris. OSHA cited Robinson Drilling for not properly training employees of the hazards of using an air winch and a sledgehammer on ball valves that were under 3,000 pounds of pressure.
Big Spring resident Wade Monroe Bennett, 32, was killed May 12 at a site in Upton County when he disconnected from his fall protection on a rig and stepped off or fell off a platform 90 feet above the ground. OSHA cited Robinson Drilling for not training employees in fall protection and ensuring that employees wore safety equipment at all times.
A Patterson-UTI Drilling worker was making a drill-stem connection May 5 in Reagan County when he was struck on the head by the pipe after it was lifted up from a hole. The man responsible for the pipe wasn’t using a safety line and it was being moved more quickly than was safe, the OSHA report concluded.
OSHA cited Patterson-UTI for not using a safety line with the pipe, and also for not keeping fire extinguishers where they should be.
However, Triple S Oilfield & Construction was not cited in the March 20 electrocution death of Leonel Rodriguez. Rodriguez was laying tile and doing carpentry at a fabrication shop under construction at 360 S. Loop 338 in Odessa when an overhead crane being installed came off its rail, disconnecting the wires, the OSHA report said. Rodriguez tried to help reconnect it, touching the wires with his bare hands and electrocuting him, the report said. The owners of Triple S drove Rodriguez to the hospital, where he soon died, the report said.
