The COVID-19 outbreak and how it affects everyone’s health and safety is of huge concern for Boart Longyear. Being in an industry that already has many risks due the nature of drilling and manufacturing, employees have learned that fostering a safety culture means that no matter what they do, they always need to take time to make safety part of their daily activities*.

As everyone grapples with the changes and the unfortunate consequences we are seeing and are personally affected by, it is good to take a deep breathe and re-evaluate what you are doing to keep yourself and your loved ones safe and healthy.

The web is full of helpful information on what to look for, how to act, how to respond, and how to give assistance. In regard to the drilling industry, we recently came across this well written article published online by National Driller magazine.

In the article, author Brock Yordy asks, “How do we prepare for abnormal operating conditions?” and responds with, “We start by creating a procedure that minimizes the hazard and prepares our crews to be safe. Next, we implement that procedure by training our people. Finally, we review our procedures and continue to improve as new information arises.” 

Mr. Yordy goes on to compliment the drilling community as we all pull together to provide each other information and figure out the best ways to tackle this crisis. With his research, he interviewed Jeff Williams, former National Ground Water Association (NGWA) president. Mr. Williams and other industry experts have created a guideline for operating procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic. We highly recommend you read this interview and review the findings and procedures set forth.

Read the full National Driller article and excerpts from Mr. Yordy’s interview with Mr. Williams here: What are Best Practices for Drillers During the Coronavirus Pandemic?

Stay safe everyone!

*The employees of Boart Longyear have long prided themselves on a robust safety culture. Embodying a core value of “Safety First” is evident in the company’s recent 2019 safety achievement with the company hitting an incredible milestone of 14.5 million consecutive man-hours worked with no Lost Time Injuries (LTI), and 18 months completely LTI-free. 

Boart Longyear’s Response to COVID-19