Jeffrey Watts's Page

"its been a while, but what the hell is a stiff arm"

"Guys, take this one step further, I have seen many a tong with the secondary sling (sub line whip line)connected to the same connection point as the stiff arm, try to have them on separate connection points, that way if that one connection point…"

"Lot of finger pointing about "responsibility" when the "casing tongs" in question are probably a third party casing crews.  Unless i am missing something, there is no reason for a rig floor hand to be near the casing…"

"Safety is important but if a hand is going to put his life in another's hands. Then they can expect to get hurt! I myself made it a habit to inspect my tools as well as the other hands for my own peace of mind! I've seen three or four guys…"

"While it's true that every accident could have been prevented, hindsight is always 20/20. Sure, we can almost always figure out why something occurred after the fact, the problem is having the foresight to spot it before it does happen. We talk…"

"I absolutely agree. However, I stand by my comment about being a professional. I also agree, and teach in all my training, that we are our brother's keeper. Watching the other guy's back is part of our job."

"Jeffrey, in my un professional opinion, there is no such thing as a freak accident. professionals VS: amateurs.   Please give this some thought; safety is an art! It is the ability to recognize danger and mitigate it. It starts with…"

"I brought this point up last night at our weekly stand down meeting. Everyone was preaching statistics & other information, that I could tell the crews were just tuning out. After everyone was done I had my part & looked these guys straight…"

"I'm an HSE Director for a well servicing company. (Workover rigs)  Whether it was an "anomaly" or not, it is a tragedy. Here in the Bakken shale, there are too many of these freak accidents. I do my best to train my hands to ask…"

"Good reply Tim,    If this was or wasn't casing tongs, I'll say this. I like your compassion for your crew. I'm glad you haven't had this exposure, tells me your not complacent. The part about laughed at; I face…"

"And by the way... I appreciate what you just posted..."

"I whole heartedly agree.."

"I can tell you this..I work with alot of really good hands... and we've never had this issue... however... most or all of the rigs I work on.. if I were to ask for this safety issue... I would be laughed at.. and you have me wondering...…"

"If I could have one goal in my career it would be to increase awareness around the oilfield to prevent tragic instances such as this from happening, it is a true shame."

"Another lessons learned the hard way. Since it says "drilling rig", a stiff arm tells me they were using ST80's or iron rough neck with hydraulic spinning wrench. The stiff arm replaces the snub line. BUT, in this case, you would use…"

"This must be on a service rig who have a permanent set of tongs? It is always a good idea for hands to check their equipment at every shift change. As well as during the job. Thanks for the share guys!"