Injury rates down for drilling industry

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

The injury rate for drilling and workover rigs declined last year in Alaska, but lost-time accidents rose as the industry geared up for increased activity in the state.

The incident rate dropped to 4.50 in 2001 from 5.02 in 2000, according to Mike Peters, Alaska safety chairman for the International Association of Drilling Contractors: “On the downside, our LTA rate rose a bit to 0.79 per 200,000 man hours for 2001, up from 0.45 per 200,000 man hours reported in 2000. This increase is largely due to the huge increase in drilling activity early in 2001 that brought a number of new workers to the industry.”

Several Alaska drill rigs were honored for their safety records in a recent awards banquet. Schlumberger was honored for the longest safety record on its CT Unit 4, which by the end of 2001 had gone 2,735 days without a lost-time accident for its operator, BP. Schlumberger’s CT Unit 7 received an honorable mention for 1,735 days for operators BP and Phillips. Doyon Drilling’s Rig 19, received an honorable mention for its achievement of 1,344 days of safe operations for Phillips. Nabors Alaska Drilling’s Rig 22E with 1,287 days and Rig 33E with 991 days, both operated by BP, received honorable mentions.