Safety Director Makes Big Impact for Oklahoma Drilling Company

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In 2020, the Energy Information Administration listed Oklahoma as the fourth-largest producer of crude oil in the United States. Drilling companies have placed an increased emphasis on improving safety culture in recent years, including in Oklahoma. In Lamont, Dan D Drilling evaluated its safety program and strived to improve it. Actions taken towards this endeavor started with the hiring of Safety Director Billy Paul Fuller.

Fuller came to the Lamont-based drilling company with a strong safety and public service background. His 16 years of military service with the U.S. Navy and National Reserves, 22 years as a volunteer firefighter, and over 35 years of safety operations and training in the oil and gas industry have proven to be an asset for the company.

Founded in 1999, Dan D Drilling is a drilling contractor and currently maintains operations in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. In 2014, the company was seeking to improve its safety program and hired Fuller, an OSHA safety trainer and certified safety and health officer, to lead the initiative.

“The three main factors that control safety are people, equipment, and mother nature,” said Safety Director Fuller. Although he has no control over the last factor, Fuller’s impact on the transformation of Dan D Drilling’s safety program goes well beyond just the people and equipment. Believing that today’s advanced safety programs are only as good as the application of basic safety fundamentals, Fuller’s accomplishments at the company include:

  • Implementation of a 5-year training program 
  • Establishment of an onsite training center 
  • Restructured training to include the entire rig group 
  • Increased rig crew training hours 
  • 100% employee certification in CPR, First Aid, & AED training

Under his management, Dan D Drilling’s improved safety measures have put the company in compliance with all OSHA safety criteria and now meets or exceeds all federal and state requirements. The successful implementation of these safety measures has resulted in a 75% improvement on total recordable incident reports, or TRIR, from 2018 to 2019. “Fuller’s work ethic is second to none, and the impact he’s had on our company is invaluable,” said Dan D Drilling Director Robert Waggoner.

Oklahoma Drilling Company Transforms Safety Culture

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Oklahoma driller, Dan D Drilling, has made safety its priority over the last several years and has taken significant strides to protect its employees.Lamont, OK, USA – WEBWIRE – Thursday, August 12, 2021

 

“We took a step back and wanted to focus on what was important- protecting our employees and keeping them safe,” said Robert Waggoner, Director of Business Operations. 

As an inherently dangerous industry to work in, oil and gas drilling has placed an increased emphasis on improving safety culture in recent years. Oklahoma drilling is no exception. One Oklahoma driller, Dan D Drilling, has made safety its priority over the last several years and has taken significant strides to protect its employees.

Dan D Drilling evaluated its safety program and strived to create and implement improved safety measures after receiving its last OSHA violation in 2015. Actions taken towards this endeavor started with the hiring of Safety Director, Billy Paul Fuller, in 2014. Fuller, whose background includes serving as an OSHA trainer and is an OSHA Certified Safety and Health Officer, used his decades of safety expertise to revamp the company’s safety strategy.

Along with the hiring of Fuller, a five-year training program was created and launched, an onsite training center was established, and the number of training hours required by rig crews has increased. “We took a step back and wanted to focus on what was important- protecting our employees and keeping them safe,” said Robert Waggoner, Director of Business Operations.

The successful implementation of these safety measures has resulted in a 75% improvement on total recordable incident reports, or TRIR, from 2018 to 2019. TRIR is the metric used by OSHA to measure the safety of a company, which illustrates how often employees are injured. Additionally, there has been a 40% decrease in the company’s three-year TRIR average from 2018 to 2020.

In 2020, the U.S. Energy Information Administration listed the state of Oklahoma as the fourth-largest producer of crude oil in the United States. Oklahoma is also the state where the deadliest oil and gas incident since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion occurred.

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Founded in 1999, Dan D Drilling is a drilling contractor providing drilling services to the petroleum industry in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. Owner Dan Darling started the company with one rig and it has since expanded to an eighteen rig operation.

DRILLING TO POWER AMERICA

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