The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has issued recommendations for safety measures developed from the investigations into two offshore incidents involving the use of hydraulic casing jacks, where one incident resulted in a fatality.
In both incidents, the traveling slips on the hydraulic pulling units were dislodged when a bind was suddenly released and the pipe was projected out of the hole.
The recommendations are being distributed through a Safety Alert, a tool BSEE uses to inform the offshore oil and gas industry of the circumstances surrounding an incident or a near miss.
The alert also contains recommendations that should help prevent the recurrence of such an incident on the Outer Continental Shelf.
The latest incident occured in December 2015, was similar to another incident in 2007, says BSEE, prompting the safety alert. Both involved a catastrophic offshore accident caused in part by the ejection of hydraulic pulling unit, or casing jack, traveling slips when a bind on the pipe being pulled was suddenly released.
in one incident, the incident resulted in shock loading and collapse of a 110ft platform crane boom - it came to rest suspended within 15ft of the crane operator's cab resting on a single boom stop.
In the 2007 incident, while tubing was being pulled during a platform well abandonment operation, a worker was killed and there was temporary loss of control of a live well.
"In both events, the traveling slips on the hydraulic pulling unit (casing jack) were dislodged when a bind was suddenly released and the pipe was projected out of the hole," says BSEE.
BSEE recommends:
Before using a hydraulic pulling unit (casing jack), operators should reviewthe equipment to see if the traveling slips can be dislodged during certain operations. If so, BSEE recommends all operators work with hydraulic pulling unit contractors to find a way to prevent ejection of the traveling slips, or mitigate the threat of slipejection;
When using a casing jack to attempt to free stuck pipe, Operators should consider using alternative procedures other than straight over-pull if there is a danger of parting the pipe.
Operator should always determine if the load is free prior to initiating crane operations to lift a work string during a well abandonment. Under no circumstances should operators attempt to use a crane to pull/lift a work string of load not free to be lifted.
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