Kenny Wood, now Assistant Rig Manager, Maersk Resilient, recalls on its 31st anniversary an accident in less safety-conscious days that seemed at first to have extremely serious consequences. "It’s that time of year when the golf invitations start to come in and when I have to turn down some great days out, all due to a bad back and a silly incident 31 years ago… Exactly 31 years ago I was an Assistant Driller on the new built jack-up rig Maersk Venturer working in Saudi Arabia. We’d just set 9-5/8” casing, had nippled down and lifted the BOP 6-7ft above the wellhead ready to install the Tubing Head Spool (THS). Everything was going fine; an air winch from the drill floor was lowered down through the BOP, attached to the THS and ready to start lifting into position.
