Saudi Aramco

Drilling & Workover Organization

Welder’s Finger Injury Incident

December 2021
The Alerts are provided to all Drilling and Workover Operations Foremen and Liaisonmen so that we all learn from the
experiences of others. The knowledge of this incident could prevent similar ones from happening in the future.
Saudi Aramco policy requires the information in this Alert to be communicated to all crew members and documented on
morning reports.

What happened?

Operation was carrying out general

routine rig maintenance. Welder
was using portable magnetic drill
machine to drill holes on metal
plates in welding shop. He switched
off the machine to clean the metal
shavings from the metal plate while
the bit was still rotating. He tried to
clean the metal shavings with his
left hand and the impact glove he
was wearing got entangled into
rotating drill bit, resulting in pulling
the upper part of thumb and damage
to soft skin of thumb.

Consequences:

 Lost time Injury.

 Operations interruption.

Why did it happen?


Investigation is ongoing; however, the following are the preliminary findings:
 IP placed his hand in the line of fire.
 Magnetic base portable drill machine was not equipped with “Dead Man”
Switch.
 No Job Safety Analysis / Safe Work Instruction being utilized.
 No Pre-Job Safety Meeting (PJSM) conducted by Task Supervisor.
Saudi Aramco: Company General Use
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 Inadequate SWI in place since the one being used was developed for different
type and model of portable drill machine.
 No proper training / safety awareness delivered to the Welders about the main
hazards related with the use of this portable drill machine.
 SWI did not highlight entanglement risks while using rotating equipment.

What should be done to prevent recurrence?

 Reinforce line of fire concept among crewmembers.

 Reinforce the requirement of inspecting all hand power tools and make sure
that “Dead Man” Switches for hand power tools shall be installed and
working properly as required.
 Contractor shall develop/review JSA & SWI related to working with hand
power tools to include all specific hazards related to each type of hand
power tools.
 Reinforce the requirement of PJSM.
 Provide refresher training to all employees about the main hazards related
with the use of hand power tools.
 Provide refresher training to all employees about line of fire concept.