Line of fire injury – Man struck in face by hammer
- Safety Flash
- Published on 22 October 2015
- Generated on 3 February 2026
- IMCA SF 16/15
- 2 minute read
The International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) has published a safety flash regarding an incident where a man was struck inadvertently in the face with a hammer, leading to ‘recordable’ injuries to his face.
What happened?
Two crew members were hammering up bolts on equipment at a well-head. During the pre-job meeting the two men had anticipated getting hit with the hammer while holding the hammer wrench. As a defence they tied an 8cm long piece of rope around the hammer wrench so that one employee could hold a bind on it while the other man swung the hammer. As the two men worked their way around the stack the man holding the rope ended up in the line of fire as he pulled the rope. On one of the swings the hammer glanced off of the top of the hammer wrench. Before the employee could stop the forward momentum of the hammer, it made contact with the man holding the rope striking him in the mouth resulting in injury.
Causes:
Lack of situational awareness, remaining ‘in the line of fire’.
See iadc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/SA-15-07.pdf for further details.
Members are reminded of the IMCA video – In the line of fire.
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