SAFETY
July 9, 2018
Recommended Reading: Situational Awareness Tips
Recommended Reading: Tips for Situational Awareness to Keep Drilling Jobs Safer
The most important part of any drilling project is making sure that everyone works safely. Because drilling includes specialized equipment boring through dirt and rock in often extreme environments, it presents a number of substantial risks that must be understood and requires planning, training, and hazard/risk assessments.
In a recent article published by National Driller and entitled, “Tips for Situational Awareness to Keep Drilling Jobs Safer,” Brock Yordy, a global drill trainer and consultant, states, “If we know what is dangerous and respect it, we can minimize the possibility for failure that leads to injury or death. Reducing risk or tragedy depends on situational awareness of the entire job.”
Mr. Yordy shared with us that during his career he has worked on several Boart Longyear sites in North America and Latin America. Along with these and other exciting career experiences, he’s learned a lot about understanding ones surroundings to best adapt thinking and behavior and create a safer working environment.
“Situational awareness is the employee’s full comprehension of the jobsite’s location and the job tasks, and the anticipation of what can go wrong when an unknown variable or unwarranted risk is introduced.”
This informative article continues with a number of insights and beneficial tips to guide drillers through recognizing what hazards are present and the actions they can take to keep them and their crews safe. Points made include understanding the environment, conditions, weather, and consideration of local wildlife. Next, drillers need to adhere to consistent practices, trying not to introduce variables that could catch people off guard.
“The risk area around rotating drill rods is the first that gets taken for granted.”
“The risk area around rotating drill rods is the first that gets taken for granted.” This truth often leads to trouble in the field and allows Mr. Yordy to introduce observations and more helpful information that drillers should consider.
We recommend reading the full article, “Tips for Situational Awareness to Keep Drilling Jobs Safer,” written by Brock Yordy and published on National Driller’s website.
Boart Longyear employs progressive and effective safety programs to protect the health and safety of our employees, contractors, and visitors at all of our sites and facilities. The company enjoys a unique position as not only are we a pioneer of innovative equipment, but through our Drilling Services division we also get to use the equipment in the field and experience firsthand what is needed to get the job done right. Safety tips are continually shared and situations monitored to educate and cultivate an interdependent safety culture.
Please share your safety tips by clicking on the gray discussion bar below.
The opinions and recommendations contained in the article are solely those of the author. This article has been used by permission. It can be found published on National Driller.
Want to read more about the drilling industry and get helpful tips? Subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter, INSITE Digest.
SIGN UP
English 
Spanish 
French 
German 
For new workers it’s critical to set within them a workplace safety and health culture at the very outset of the job. Recommend doing this in a series of one hour training meetings, not a half day or full day or two day+ session(s). The safety and health awareness training could take place in a series of one hour meetings every three days to keep things on track and fresh. It’s all about instilling a safety and health culture now-a-days versus basic safety subjects.