October 8, 2026
This week’s photo is courtesy of- GeoLog, LLC, Cottonwood, AZ, USA.
Safety Focus
Part 4 of 4: Overhead Power Lines and Mast Raising: Prevent It
OSHA puts the first step on the employer, before anyone unloads a tool. 1926.416(a)(3): "Before work is begun the employer shall ascertain by inquiry or direct observation, or by instruments, whether any part of an energized electric power circuit, exposed or concealed, is so located that the performance of the work may bring any person, tool, or machine into physical or electrical contact with the electric power circuit." The same rule requires telling employees where the lines are, the hazards, and the protective measures.
The Alaska investigators recommended a site-specific checklist. A good one covers:
• Every overhead line located, with voltage from the utility if you can get it.
• A zone of at least 20 feet (more for high-voltage lines) marked on the ground before the truck is positioned.
• The mast's full arc and raised height checked against that zone. If it does not clear, the mast does not go up.
• A named spotter and a crew briefing on where the lines are.
• A call to the utility if the line needs to be de-energized, grounded, or moved.
• A call to 811, the free national call-before-you-dig service, a few business days before any digging for mud pits or trenches. Buried lines kill too.
If contact happens. Texas Department of Insurance guidance: if you are inside the equipment and nothing threatens you, stay put until the power company de-energizes the circuit. If fire or power-line strikes present an immediate threat, "jump as far away from the equipment as possible." Never touch the equipment and the ground at the same time. Land with both feet together, then shuffle away without lifting either foot. The ground around the rig can carry voltage that changes with distance (OSHA calls it step potential), and a normal stride can bridge it.
If you are on the ground, NIOSH says it plainly: "Never touch or go near a person or piece of equipment that is touching an overhead power line. Call 911."
Key Takeaways:
• Locate every line before work begins. That is the employer's duty under 1926.416(a)(3).
• Use a written site checklist. If the mast cannot clear, it does not go up.
• In contact: stay inside the cab unless fire or another immediate threat forces you out. Then jump clear without touching rig and ground at once, land feet together, and shuffle.
• Never touch a person or rig that is in contact with a line. Call 911.
Sources:
• NIOSH (Alaska FACE Program): Driller's Helper Electrocuted When Mast of Drill Rig Contacted Overhead Power Lines
• Texas Department of Insurance: Power Line Safety Tips
• 811: Before You Dig
Knowledge Share
Part 4 of 4: Subsurface Geology Analysis: Master It
Cuttings lag. Especially when drilling direct mud or air, the cuttings that reach the surface may have been cut minutes or even hours ago, higher in the hole than where the bit sits now. Lag time is the annular volume divided by the pump rate. For an 8-inch hole with 4½-inch drill pipe, the annulus holds about 1.8 gallons per foot ((8² minus 4.5²) times 0.0408), or roughly 22 liters per meter. At 500 feet, that is about 890 gallons. At 150 gpm, the mud itself takes about 6 minutes to reach the surface. That is the best case: the USGS notes coarse particles rise slower than fine ones, so cuttings lag even more.
Watch the bit, not just the shaker. A change in penetration rate tells you about a formation change right away. The cuttings confirm it minutes later.
Mud changes the logs. The SP log depends on the difference in saltiness between the borehole fluid and the formation water. The USGS manual on borehole geophysics notes SP can go flat, a straight line, when the two match. Mud filtrate soaking into permeable zones and the mud cake on the wall both affect resistivity readings.
Thin beds blur. The same manual warns that picking lithology from normal-resistivity logs is "subject to considerable error because of the bed-thickness effects." A two-foot clay can hide on a 64-inch log.
Hot sand. EPA notes that feldspar-rich and mica-rich sediments read high on gamma, so a "clay" on the gamma log may be a perfectly good sand. Check it against resistivity and cuttings.
Washouts. An enlarged hole can distort readings, especially when you compare numbers rather than trends. Run the caliper.
The rule that ties it together: no single log decides a screen setting. A good field rule: cuttings, drilling action, and at least two logs should tell the same story before you build on it.
What to check before you order:
• Correct every sample depth for lag before it goes on the log.
• Confirm any gamma "clay" with resistivity and cuttings before you blank it off.
Sources:
• USGS (Shuter and Teasdale, TWRI 2-F1): Application of Drilling, Coring, and Sampling Techniques to Test Holes and Wells
• USGS (Keys, TWRI 2-E2): Borehole Geophysics Applied to Ground-Water Investigations, Electric Logging
• U.S. EPA (CLU-IN): Gamma Logging
• Bureau of Reclamation: Engineering Geology Field Manual, Vol. 2, Ch. 14: Borehole Geophysical and Wireline Surveys
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