Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services
Inuvik (Apr 27/01) - A 20-year-old seismic worker is being tested and treated for an injury to his right eye after an accident at a seismic site blew debris into his face.
Dave Dreger, a shooter's helper, was cleaning a drill hole April 20 when a delayed release of pressure sent a geyser of rock and mud erupting from the four-inch shaft.
The site is located 50 kilometres north of Inuvik.
"He has some vision now and we are optimistic that full vision will be returned to his eye," said Allan Chatenay, a manager at WesternGeco Canada, the seismic company that employed Dreger.
Dreger was flown by helicopter to Inuvik Hospital and spent three days there before he was released and is now in Calgary undergoing tests and treatment.
As a result of the accident, WesternGeco has changed how it operates seismic crews in the Mackenzie-Delta for the remainder of this season which ends early in May.
"We are no longer sending the shooter's helper to clean the hole immediately after the shot," Chatenay said.
There will be a longer delay until a separate two-person crew follows the shooter and shooter's helper to examine the site after an explosion is set.
Whether that practice will continue next season will be "assessed over the summer," he said.
The shooter ignites the charge to create the blast and the helper prepares and cleans the site.
Chatenay said the work being done in the Mackenzie-Delta by his company is dangerous in nature, but stressed that accidents are rare.
"We have an enormous exposure to risk at our work site but we are able to manage that risk," he said. "These things, sometimes they happen, but we certainly don't accept incidents like this as common."
According to a company investigation into the accident it appears all procedures were followed correctly, Chatenay said.
