Errors, little oversight led to gas drillers’ deaths

Abstract

A drilling rig blowout and 7 h fire that killed five workers who were trapped in the rig’s small cabin were the result of a string of management and operator failures at an Oklahoma natural gas well last year. In an investigation report released June 12, the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) also found there are few industry standards and no federal safety regulations specific to oil and gas drilling, despite their growing importance to the US economy. Oklahoma’s regulations seem more to encourage production than protect workers, the CSB says. The direct cause of the accident at the Pryor Trust gas well was insufficient hydrostatic pressure in the form of heavy drilling “mud” needed to block natural gas from working its way to the surface during drilling operations. Also, rig workers failed to detect and respond to the release of mud and gas at the well’s