Alert 19-06 Rig Floor Plate Falls to Production Deck

WHAT HAPPENED:

The drill crew had completed cleaning the pollution pans and were in the process of installing the pollution pan covers (see Figure 1, Green Boxes) when a Floorhand stepped on a floor plate that was still in its original position (See Figure 1, Orange Box), causing it to tilt. The plate subsequently slid through a gap in the rotary housing and fell 72ft. onto the platform’s weather deck, it then broke through the hatch cover grating, landing 18 ft. below on the mezzanine deck where four employees were working. The plate weighed 330lbs, with dimensions of 34in. (L) x 31in. (W) x 1 in. thick and had the potential to cause a fatality.