BEGGS, Okla. – An oil field worker was killed in a fall Thursday morning. Investigators are working to figure out how it happened.
Police got the call around 10:30 a.m. that an oil derrick fell.
“We found an oil field pulling unit had been in the middle of pulling some sucker rods out of the ground at a well site,” said Lt. Duston Todd with the Okmulgee County Sheriff’s Office.
Harnessed at the top of the tower was 35-year-old Robert Allen of Cushing. He died in the fall.
“They said they were in the middle of pulling the pipe out of the ground when the platform began to shake and tipped over,” Lt. Todd said.
Deputies do not suspect foul play and are investigating the death as a workplace accident.
Now, the OSHA and investigators with the pulling unit’s owner, Rick’s Well Service, will investigate whether workplace standards were being followed.
Lt. Todd said this is the first major accident in an oil field he’s seen in five or six years.
“The oil field’s inherently a dangerous place, so incidents do happen. It’s not the first time you’ve heard of an oil field worker getting killed in the line of duty. Fortunately, it’s not an everyday occurrence,” he said.
