A drillship worker was killed last week in an accident on the rig floor of a Petrobras-contracted drillship in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico about 172 miles south of Port Fourchon, Louisiana, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has confirmed.

The offshore oil and gas operator, Petrobras America, reported that the fatality occurred onboard the Petrobras 10,000 drillship, owned by Transocean, at about 4:45 a.m. on December 2. The drillship was located in the Walker Ridge 469 block at the time of the incident.

The victim worked for Spencer Ogden and was participating in pipe handling operations within a controlled area on the rig floor when the accident occurred. No other personnel were harmed in the incident and there was no pollution resulting from it. In a safety alert issued to operators, the BSEE said the victim died after becoming pinned between a stanchion and a loading platform.

“At the time of the incident, the deceased was working on the rig floor and positioned between a stanchion, on the port side of the rig floor with his back to the retracting skate, when it moved causing the “loading platform” of the skate to pin him against the stanchion. It was reported that there is approximately a 3-inch clearance between the stanchion and the loading platform,” the alert said.

The exact cause or causes of the fatality are now under investigation. BSEE Gulf of Mexico Region Director Lars Herbst has directed that a panel investigation and inspectors begin conducting a thorough investigation into incident.

Source: GCaptain