Tripping pipe is the most repetitive work on the floor — and some of the most dangerous.
Pulling and running the drill string, stand after stand, keeps the crew in the path of heavy iron, the elevators, and the slips. When a step is rushed or a tool fails, the injuries are catastrophic.
Pulling out, running in.
Tripping pipe means pulling the drill string out of the hole or running it back in, one stand at a time, with elevators, slips, tongs, and the drawworks — constant, rhythmic, heavy work repeated for hours.
Caught, struck, crushed.
Hands in the slips or between tool joints, fingers in the elevators or tongs, a swinging or dropped stand, an iron-roughneck failure, and falls on a wet, muddy floor. The outcomes are crushed and amputated hands, struck-by injuries, and serious falls.
Which law — and who answers.
Drilling crews are seamen, so the claim runs under the Jones Act and the general maritime law.
The contractor that owns the rig and crews the floor answers for unsafe procedure and equipment under the Jones Act.
The operator’s drilling program and company representative on board can carry responsibility for the decisions that set the pace.
A defective top drive, iron roughneck, tong, or elevator — or a service contractor’s negligence — supports a separate claim, and an unfit one can render the rig unseaworthy.
The floor crew are crew of a vessel or MODU, so the Jones Act and unseaworthy doctrine apply — not a landside comp schedule.
Sound like your situation? Calling us is confidential, costs nothing, and starts nothing you don’t choose to start.
Text (713) 489-2297We reconstruct the trip.
The firm rebuilds the trip sequence and the crew positions, identifies the tool or procedure that failed, and links to the drilling crew and crush-injury analyses that prove these cases.
What the other side will argue.
Expect the familiar moves — the claim that you mishandled the slips rather than that the trip was rushed — alongside the standard fights over seaman status, comparative fault, and surveillance. The full Drilling defense playbook, with how each argument is met, is set out on our drilling operations page.
A trip is a procedure, not a guess.
Tripping has a right way — spacing, communication, hands clear of the slips and the bite of the tongs, controlled speed. The firm reconstructs the sequence and uses a marine-safety expert to set custom and practice, while the daily drilling reports, the JSA, and the tool-maintenance records show whether the crew was rushed and whether the iron was fit. The featherweight causation standard carries causation where the work aggravates an injury.
A trip done right keeps hands out of the slips — an injury usually means the rhythm beat the procedure.
What to protect first.
For this work the evidence is the daily drilling reports, the JSA, and the tool-maintenance logs — held by the company and routinely overwritten, so demand preservation in writing before it is lost, and get prompt medical care. The full first-days checklist is on our drilling operations page.
Where this connects.
Drilling Operations · Drill-Floor Injuries · Crush Injuries · Drilling Crew · The Jones Act
What happens when you text us
Tell us what happened — in your own words, as much or as little as you want.
We review it free. You learn whether maritime law protects you and what your options actually are.
You decide. Nothing is filed, and no one contacts your employer, unless you choose to move forward.
Your conversation with us is confidential. There is no fee unless we win. Hablamos español.
Reach out even if…
- You think the accident was partly your fault — under the Jones Act, your own fault reduces a recovery but does not bar it.
- You already gave a statement or signed something — a release signed under pressure can be challenged.
- You still work for the company — talking to a lawyer is confidential, and retaliation for pursuing a claim can itself be actionable.
- You’re not sure your case is “big enough” — that’s exactly what a free review is for.
Catastrophic offshore injury? The investigation can’t wait.
Equipment gets repaired, records get revised, and witnesses rotate off the rig. Doyle Dennis Avery LLP moves quickly to preserve the evidence and identify every responsible party. A case review costs nothing, there is no obligation, and your employer will not know you contacted us.
This page is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. The law that applies to an offshore injury — the Jones Act, the LHWCA and \u00a7 905(b), OCSLA, the general maritime law, product-liability law, or another body of law — and the parties responsible depend on the specific facts. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome. Doyle Dennis Avery LLP · Houston, Texas. This is attorney advertising.
