Is your company prepared for an oil and gas well site emergency?
Brought to you by:
NORA Oil and Gas Sector Council

What happens when first responders aren’t able to locate the emergency scene?
• 12/18/15 Oil Rig Fire
• Coalgate, OK
• 3 fatalities
• Multiple Injuries
• Confused first Responder:
“Who’s in charge here?”
• Demonstrates lack of emergency planning and personnel accountability.
1 st person view GoPro Camera from
Coalgate Fire Dept. Asst. Chief

Presentation Objectives
Provide planning process, critical action steps, and supplemental materials necessary to address and reduce the severity of medical and fire field emergencies specific to small oil and gas extraction companies.

Summary of Presentation
• On-Site Field Hazard Vulnerability Analysis
• Current industry fatality rates
• Medical Emergency Response Plan & Critical Action Steps
• Recommended Training
• Emergency Response Practice Scenarios
• Common Failures
• Resources
• Supplementary Materials

Are you prepared for this emergency?

On-Site Field Hazard Vulnerability Analysis
• Mitigating and responding to on-site field emergencies begins with having an understating of potential risks and hazards.
• Examples below are only a few that you may find on your site and need to include in your emergency plan.
• Safety: Fires & Explosions, Working from height, Confined space work,
Machinery moving parts, Moving vehicles, High pressure lines
• Chemical: H
2
S, Vapors, Fumes, Work process chemicals
• Physical/Environmental: High Exposure to UV rays, temperature extremes, Extreme weather, Natural Disasters
• Biological: Plants, Insect Bites, Snake Bites
Source: OSHA Safety and Health Topics: Oil and Gas Extraction

U.S. Oil & Gas Extraction Industry, 2003-2014
8%
(109)
2%
(33)
Other
Falls
9%
(114)
Exposure
41%
(548)
Transportation
1331
14%
(187)
Fires/Explosions
Total Fatalities
Data Source: BLS CFOI
26%
(340)
Contact with Objects/Equipment

“Golden Hour”
• What is the ‘Golden Hour’?
• Demonstrate a sense of urgency!

What is your Emergency Response Plan (ERP)?
As you continue through the critical action steps, think about your field site and specific operations while preparing your emergency response plan (ERP).
What hazards are present?
What types of emergencies are you likely to encounter?
Are you prepared for these emergencies?
If not, what resources do you need to make sure you’re prepared?

6 critical action steps
1. Communicate with local emergency agencies.
2. Monitor communication channel signal strength.
3. Account for personnel.
4. Identify multiple evacuation routes & muster areas.
5. Complete employee information contact cards.
6. Organize on-site emergency preparedness.
Local
Agencies
Communicate
Monitor
Signal
Strength
Staff
Workers
Account
Identify
Evac
Muster
Contact
Cards
Complete
Organize ERP

1. Communicate with Local Emergency Agencies
• Medical facilities, fire department, emergency management agency, EMS and other 1 st responders.
• Provide your location.
• Offer facility walk-throughs.
• Begin your relationship before an emergency.
• Situational Awareness – Know your surroundings!

2. Monitor Communication Channel Signal Strength
• Cell & Satellite
• Redundant communication channels
• Rural area difficulties
• If you’re not able to call for help… then help will never arrive!

3. Account for Personnel
• On-shift and Off-shift
• Roster accountability during an emergency
• Shift changeover – “Who’s working today?”
• Emergencies create chaos!
• Communicate with first responders.

4. Identify Multiple Evacuation Routes
& On-Site Muster Areas
• Emergency events could potentially occur anywhere on your site
• Plan for different routes of evacuation from several areas on-site
• Create several meeting areas to muster and account for all personnel

5. Complete Contact Cards
• Employee information
• Pertinent medical information
• Keep a card…
Give a card…
Get a card
• “ICE” cell contact

6. Organize On-Site Emergency Preparedness
• Collect emergency contacts
• Seek out training resources from trained professionals that are qualified to meet your emergency team’s needs.
• Staff: Multiple CPR/1st Aid trained-employees should be on-site for each shift.
• Equipment:
• AED
• Medical 1 st Aid kit
• Portable Fire Extinguisher
• Portable Eye Wash Station

2014 Oil and Gas Cardiac Fatalities
• 9 oil field workers suffered fatal heart attacks on the job in 2014.
1
• Treatment of a witnessed cardiac event with immediate AED use can result in greater than
90 percent survival. 2
• With each minute of delay in defibrillation, nearly 10 percent fewer survive, so that at 10 minutes, survival is dismal. 2
1 Data Source: 2014 NIOSH FOG
2 AED Source: OSHA - Cardiac Arrest and Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs)

Cardiac Fatality in the Field 1
• A rig operator complained of feeling light-headed and nauseated and he asked to be relieved from his duty station.
• His symptoms progressed to confusion.
• Co-workers at the site suspected a heart attack and began to transport the rig operator to a hospital.
• Before reaching the hospital, the rig operator stated that he felt hot.
• He then began to convulse and became unresponsive.
• He arrived at the hospital in cardiac arrest and died shortly thereafter.
Having a medical emergency response plan on-site may have helped to prevent this fatality.
1 Data Source: 2014 NIOSH FOG

What happens when you’re working alone?
• Create a lone worker policy
• New risks and hazards
• Increased risks during extreme weather
• Know where they are and what they’re doing
• Establish Check-In procedures
• Provide emergency self-alert protocol
• Remote-monitoring devices
• Update existing safety policies to address lone workers.

Lone Worker Fatality in the Field 1
• A pumper was found by a passerby in a field near a highway gasping for air.
• The location where the pumper was found was about one mile from his vehicle that was parked on a lease road near an oil well.
• It is suspected that the pumper walked towards the road from his vehicle.
• He died before emergency services were able to arrive on-scene.
• The pumper was at risk from H2S exposure, but autopsy revealed the worker died from coronary artery disease.
What components of a lone worker policy could have helped prevent this fatality?
1 Data Source: 2014 NIOSH FOG

Example:
Field
Emergency
Preparedness
Checklist

Components of an Emergency Response Plan
• Fire & Emergency Reporting
Procedure
• Emergency Alarm/Notification
System
• Evacuation Procedure & Routes
• Procedure for those remaining prior to evacuation
• Personnel accountability procedures
• Rescue and medical duties for assigned personnel
• Written Fire Prevention Plan
• Written Injury Response Plan
• Operation specific emergency action plan
• Emergency Preparedness
Checklist
• Emergency Contact Cards
• Review and revise, as necessary

Recommended ERP Training
• Completed at least annually by all employees
• New employees during orientation
• Existing employees when there is a change in duties
• When new equipment or materials are introduced
• When emergency procedures are revised
• When a practice scenario indicates need for improvement

Practice Scenario Examples
• Are you prepared for these field emergencies?
• Cardiac Event
• Line Pressure Explosion
• Worker hit by moving vehicle
• Worker falling from height
• Worker hit by falling object
• Worker caught between equipment
• Fire/Explosion
• Chemical Spill and Exposure
Practice scenarios should be completed monthly to ensure that your emergency plan is current and you’re continually able to identify potential new hazards that could occur on your site.

Causes of Emergency Response Failures
• Lack of ERP
• Lack of Communication
Where?
Who?
ERP?
What?
When?
When?
How?
• Inability to Execute
Adequate Response
Time
• Inadequate Training

Causes of Emergency Response Failures
• Lack of Proper Equipment
• Out of Date Contact
Information
• Lack of Coordination with
Emergency Response
Groups

ERP Successes & Failures
Share your experience!
• What emergency responses have you encountered that were successful?
• What made them successful?
• What emergency responses have you encountered that failed?
• What contributed to the failure?

Additional Resources
• State Emergency Response Commission Contacts (SERC)
• Designated officials for each state
• OSHA Emergency Response and Preparedness Requirements and Guidance
• Guidance on creating and implementing workplace emergency response plans
• Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPC)
• Describes LEPC purpose, requirements, and members
Supplementary Materials
• Field Emergency Preparedness Checklist
• Worker Contact Card

Contact Information and Acknowledgments
Contact Information
• David Caruso
• Coordinator, NORA Oil and Gas Extraction Council
• DCaruso@cdc.gov
Acknowledgements
• DJ Basin Safety Council
• Adam Kickish
• Elizabeth Lawhorn
• Kurt Papenfus, MD
• Kyla Retzer, MPH (NIOSH)
• Sophie Ridl (NIOSH)
• Nate Minarchick, WVU MPH Candidate (NIOSH Work Site Student)