Man Killed In Drilling Accident
Miscellaneous
Big Stan – Biggest Truck Mounted Drill in the Southwest Busy near Las Vegas
Big Stan is a drill rig like no other. Weighing in at 250,000 lb with a mast 90-ft high, it is the largest truck mounted drill rig in the southwest and possibly one of the […]
In Memoriam
Drill Rig Fatality – Removed
This post was removed at the request of the victim’s family. Please see a subsequent apology.
Failures
Drilled shaft rig falls into hole – Iowa
On May 15 a drilled shaft rig operated by Mid America Drilling Corp was nearly swallowed by the 9-ft diameter hole it was drilling for a cell tower foundation near Harlan, Iowa. Fortunately nobody was injured and the truck did not suffer any significant damage.
In Arizona, the standard of practice is to use a temporary surface casing to prevent dangerous failures like that. I once saw pictures of a drilling contractor superindendent almost get sucked into a collapsing shaft, even with the temporary casing. Pretty scary stuff. Source: Harlan Tribune. (Photo by Samantha Bruck)