[quoteDesertRam]Man, that sucks. I feel for their families. Lockout-tagout.[/quote]
That was my first thought as well, Troy, but that would only work if the pump was not in service.
I was bringing up a chemical still one night after maintenance had signed off the master tag; cleared all red tags/locks and had the (125' tall)column nearly up on water. Head temp was 95*C+ (around 200*F). (Indicating steam would be entering the overhead condensers in the immediate future). This still used 4 very large fin-fan condensers located on the third level (picture a huge auto radiator with fan guard shroud). Switches were on the first level and I was about to turn them on, when fortunately, I decided to go to the 4th level and look down into the shrouds to be sure no insulation or other debris had been left on the coils. That's when I discovered one of the temporary shutdown hands sleeping on the coils of one fan under the prop.
Hard to anticipate every scenario apt to be encountered around heavy equipment.
Originally Posted By: derbyacresbobOriginally Posted By: KjBeachyOriginally Posted By: SlickerThanSnoti am ignorant of what goes on in the "pit" under an oil well.
anybody care to explain what it was that killed and injured the men?
I was wondering the same thing
They probable climbed under the pumping unit guard that keeps people from getting in where the pumping unit rotates around while the well is pumping.
Most of the wells are required to have "Starts Automatically" signs on the pumping unit guards.
Many of these pumping units or pump jacks start up and shut off many times in a 24 hour period. So they probable got in where they shouldn't have been and the pumping unit started up automatically.
These guys must not have known anything about oil wells and pumping units or pump jacks.
I don't see this as a hunting accident.
I'm sure this pit is just a retaining pit to contain any possible leakage of oil that might occur during operation.
Regards,
hm