This Day in History
This Day in History (1988): Award-Winning Rig Crew Sustains Safe Workover Record
Global December 21, 2022
The 38 men working on Rig ADC-9 completed the year without a single disabling injury, and then they just kept being safe.
From the Dec. 21, 1988, edition of The Arabian Sun
Operating a workover rig is a dangerous business but one that is essential to maintaining the productivity of working wells. It is a hazardous job that demands continuous well-control practices and proper maintenance of safety equipment.
The rig crew must constantly be on the alert to avoid the potential escape of hydrogen sulfide -- a poisonous gas associated with crude production.
Despite these hazards, the 38 men who work on Rig ADC-9 have earned an award for operating their rig for a complete year — July 1987 to July 1988 — without a single disabling injury.
Inf act, their string of safe days is continuing uninterrupted. As of Dec. 19 (1988), ADC-9\s crew had racked up a remarkable 509 "safe" days involving 162,324 man-hours of work performed on 56 wells.
Rig ADC-9 is one of three contractor workover rigs supervised by Drilling and Workover Operations. It services both oil and water wells.
Caption for top photo: Arabian Drilling company General Manager Bill Stibbs, left, presents ADC-9's safety award and extends congratulations to the rig's crew and to Drilling and Workover Operations Superintendent Frank Corts, right.
Also on this date
2020 — A conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurs, with the two planets separated in the sky by 0.1 degrees, the closes such conjunction of the two planets since 1623
1995 — The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control
1988 — A bomb explodes on board Pam Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 -- the deadliest air disaster on British soil
1967 — Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a human-to-human heart transplant, dies in Cape Town, South Africa, 18 days after his transplant
1940— American author F. Scott Fitzgerald dies in Hollywood
1937 — "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" premieres at the Carthay Circle Theater. It is the world's first full-length animated feature
1913 — Arthur Wynne's "word-cross," the first crossword puzzle, is published in the New York World
1832 — Egyptian forces decisively defeat Ottoman troops at the Battle of Konya
1615 — Benedict Arnold is born Ilchester, Somerset, England
