A service rig belonging to a Red Deer-based company has been shut down after it collapsed in high winds.
Chris Chodan, a communications officer with Alberta Occupational Health and Safety, confirmed that a stop-use order related to a Central Alberta Well Services Corp. service rig was issued on Oct. 7.
“I guess it did tip because of a wind,” he said, adding that he wasn’t aware of any injuries related to the incident.
The stop-use order remains in effect, said Chodan, and won’t be lifted until an engineer’s certificate is presented to his department verifying that the rig is safe.
He added that Occupational Health and Safety issues more than 100 stop-use or stop-work orders every year, but could not comment on how common they are in the oil and gas sector.
Chodan also said he didn’t know where the service rig was located when it came down.
Don Herring, president of the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors, said stop-use orders are rarely issued in the drilling and service rig industry.
“It usually occurs if there’s been a serious accident, in which case the work would stop in any event, or in the event of some kind of a technical failure.”
Herring added that rigs are engineered to withstand heavy winds. In the past, they’ve been anchored, he said, but newer equipment is designed so that this isn’t necessary.
The Advocate was unable to obtain comment from an official with Central Alberta Well Services.
The company, whose operational head office is in Red Deer, has its corporate offices in Calgary and operating centres in Provost, Brooks and Grande Prairie, and a satellite facility in Weyburn, Sask. Its services include well-servicing, coil-tubing, snubbing, nitrogen, well-testing and oilfield equipment rentals.