Drilled Shaft Rig Topples in Austin, Texas [Video]
Miscellaneous
Man Killed In Drilling Accident
On October 26, 2007, a man was killed on Highway 118 in Simi Valley, California when he was apparently entangled in the auger of an excavator mounted drill rig. The rig was drilling holes for a soundwall foundation. Read the full article.
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)
Geologic Hazards
Large Sinkhole Opens Near Denver City, Texas
A 200-ft plus diameter sinkhole, about 50-ft deep opened up about 75 miles southwest of Lubbock, Texas, near Denver City on Monday, 7/27/2009 at 11pm. Check out the video below which is basically some aerial still photos. Credit to Geology.com. (Image from KCBD Video) […]