Man Killed In Drilling Accident

An excavator mounted drill rig drilling shafts as part of a project to pass utilities under I-35 near 51st Street toppled over while trying to move in soft, rain soaked soil. The Austin Fire Department was able to extract the operator from the cab and he was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries, a minor miracle. I’m not sure what the purpose of the drilled shafts were for. Since the project was for some kind of utility pipe jacking under the freeway, I’m speculating it was drilling holes for temporary shoring for the jacking pit or something along those lines. I’m sure OSHA will be looking into the incident. Video news story after the break. (Photo from Austin KXAN.com).

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Ok, this video has so many safety issues going on, you can’t even count them all. But it is darn funny! Just know that this public video on Facebook lets anyone comment on it, so […]

I don’t think this is a new CME drill rig (Central Mine Equipment Company), but its a model I’m not familiar with.  The CME-550X is designed to minimize ground contact pressure for jobs with wet […]