Testing Geronimo Tragedy!!

Comment by Drilling Ahead on September 9, 2009 at 12:46am

This is a terrible tragedy that I cannot get out of my mind after watching.
The Geronimo is the most outdated piece of C**P on a drilling rig and to all the drilling contractors that claim over and over to have our safety in mind on your rigs,I ask this..."What are you going to do to fix this?" at the very least you could have a small eyelet welded to the Geronimo, that has a small lanyard attached permanently to it-so that all the derrickman had to do was snap it to the D-ring in his harness. 5 dollars worth of hardware would have saved this mans life. if your company tells you over and over about how your safety is #1 priority with them-show them this video and ask them, "What are you going to do to improve this?"
My condolences to the mans family and coworkers

Comment by Wayne Nash on September 10, 2009 at 3:49am

I've seen this before. The Geronimo is on backwards. When the brake is applied, it goes into instant lockup.

Comment by Craig Briley on September 11, 2009 at 10:29am

I hate for this to happen to anyone for something to get done. A belt attached to the Geronimo is the best way to go. A lanyard would have kept him from hitting the ground but at the point were this happen and the time frame ( 5 min unconsciousness to 15 min death) to prevent Suspension Trauma. What we have is a controlled descend attached to Geronimo and a belt to keep the derrick from fall off the Geronimo.

Comment by george aguilar on September 25, 2009 at 6:07am

this is one of the worst videos i have ever seen lanyard should be used

Comment by khaled Mohamed shehab on October 14, 2009 at 7:53am

This Company should be shutdown by the Governing Authorities of which ever country this rig is in. The entire Management should be terminated immediately

Comment by jeffrey hart on October 30, 2009 at 4:43pm

But did the guy live?

Comment by steve hartono on November 23, 2009 at 12:19am

This accident could have been prevented. This is not a stunt practice.

Comment by NELSON NUÑEZ on February 22, 2010 at 10:16pm

My condolences to this man´s family and friends, i can believe things like this happen on this days, instead of using a doll, or sacks, bags or whatever simulates a person´s weight to test this safety system.

Comment by Budd Phillips on June 4, 2010 at 10:51pm

This was a needless tradgedy. The rig rider system produced and used in Cnada comes with an attached lanyard, if you fall off of the geronimo you don't fall to the ground. Also there are lots of new escape pods sytems that have developed and are in use in Canada.

Comment by Tony Cadrain on March 2, 2013 at 12:32am

We never used a lanyard, we used to ride them down for the thrill until the brass brake wore out and the toolpusher put a stop to it, about 3 runs. I never seen anything like this I agree with Wayne Nash must have been on backwards. I had the guy's in Africa practice from on a 60 foot run from the crown stand to the loader Just to get the hang of it. I had a derrick hand run over his own hand while getting on, he was hanging on to the cable below the Geronimo and then sat on it, Ouch I got it on tape kind of funny I had to lift the big gallop up as he freed himself. They were dangerous but so was climbing down the ladder when the well was blowing. The first one I sat on I was thinking I'll just sit on it and see, well because it was tied low on the monkey board My weight dropped me down to low to climb back up so I had to go. Oh the good old days I won't have the gut to do that now thank god we have better equipment now days

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