BJ Services, LLC: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Nov 12, 2017 (fatal): Employee is struck in the head by a hose and is killed

At 3:15 a.m. on November 12, 2017, a crew of employees were assigned the task of flushing out the hose between the high pressure manifold trailer and the pump truck after the pump truck had been shut down during a fracking stage. The truck was not pumping properly and was turned off to prevent further damage. The discharge line from the manifold had a blockage that prevented the sand/water mixture from flowing to the pump. Employees split a hammer union in the middle of the hose to investigate the section of hose that was obstructed and determined that it was the hose attached to the manifold. The employees pressurized the manifold and hose up to a pressure of approximately 80 p.s.i., and begun striking the hose with a hammer and sticking a rod up the end of the hose to break up the blockage of sand when a rapid release of energy projected sand from the hose and caused the hose to move and whip. An employee was standing on the unsecured hose to keep it from moving. The movement of the hose caused the employee to loose balance and the employee was struck in the head by the hose. The employee was transported by EMS to a hospital where he later died from the blunt force trauma injury sustained to the head.