Safety and Environmental Protection
The Safety and Environmental Protection domain tests the hazards that actually injure drillers (rigging, electricity, excavations and silica) plus the spill and site controls that keep a job out of an enforcement file.
Rig and site
- Spot the rig with outriggers on stable ground, and keep booms and masts at least 10 ft from energized lines up to 50 kV, more at higher voltage; call the utility when clearance cannot be maintained.
- Barricade the open hole whenever the rig leaves; a deep open borehole is a fatal fall hazard.
- Fall protection at 6 ft in construction; guardrails on platforms and ladders.
Excavations and confined spaces
- Call 811/Call Before You Dig at least two business days ahead.
- At 5 ft deep a protective system (slope, bench or shore) is required; spoil and equipment at least 2 ft back; ladder within 25 ft of workers.
- Well pits, tanks and mud pits may be permit-required confined spaces: test oxygen, flammables and hydrogen sulfide, ventilate, and post an attendant with a retrieval system.
Electrical and silica
Lockout/tagout before working on pump panels, GFCI protection on temporary power, verify dead before touching. Wet-cut or dust-collect when cutting, chipping or grinding, wear a fit-tested respirator, and use hearing protection around the hammer.
Environmental
Contain drilling fluids and cuttings, keep mud and turbid water out of wetlands and storm drains, keep a spill kit for diesel and hydraulic oil, and report any release to DEEP's spill line.
Worked example
A pit must be dug 6 ft deep beside a foundation for a pitless line. The locate ticket goes in two business days ahead. The pit exceeds 5 ft, so it needs sloping or shoring and a ladder; spoil goes 2 ft back. Because it is deep, beside a foundation and may hold diesel fumes, it is treated as a permit-required confined space: air tested before entry, ventilated, with an attendant on top. No one drops in to check the fitting.
Traps that cost marks
- Assuming a shallow pit is exempt from confined-space rules.
- Working under lines because the boom is not that high.
- Letting drilling mud run to a wetland or catch basin.
- Entering a pit to rescue a coworker without air testing or PPE.