Tool and Hard Hat Lanyards
Danos Blaster Painter Foreman Ronald Bailey was inspecting the base of handrails that were recently blasted to be coated after inspection.
During the inspection process, he placed his head through the handrails and moved a blast hose out of his way to get a better look. In doing so, his hard hat lanyard was caught up on the blast line causing the lanyard to break loose from his belt loop and fall approximately 60 feet down to the drill deck below.
Ronald immediately retrieved the hard hat and resumed working, unaware that another contractor had seen this. Following the incident, Ronald wrote up what happened and reported it. He was then called to the offshore installation manager’s (OIM) office to discuss the incident, where he learned of the tool and hard hat lanyard policies.
A few lessons to be learned:
- Tool lanyards and hard hat lanyards are different. Some assets allow both - know your specific location requirements as different assets have different reporting requirements.
- Tool lanyards are designed for tools specifically, and hard hat lanyards are designed specifically to break-away if the situation presents itself.
- Honesty and integrity will go along way if this situation or any situation ever occurs – as in this case, the OIM handled this very differently due to Ronald’s honesty and integrity, acknowledging he was unaware of the policy of the tool lanyard versus hard hat lanyard.
- Spread the importance of reporting every incident, whether big or small, across the Gulf Of Mexico.
No matter how many years in the industry, there are always learning moments and opportunities. Thank you, Ronald, for your integrity, and to the asset manager for using this opportunity to mentor without consequence.
