AK Drilling International Reduces Accident Rate 100 Percent

AK Drilling International Reduces Accident Rate 100 Percent


AK Drilling International (AKD) is a $75 million company providing exploratory drilling services to the mining industry in Central and South America.
Employees travel to potential future mining sites and drill test holes up to 7,000-8,000 feet deep into the earth’s surface to extract core samples. AKD´s customer then takes the core samples to assay labs for analysis before full-scale mining occurs.
AKD´s goal is to be the safest drilling company in the world and the number one choice for customers and employees selecting a drilling company.
Challenge
Exploratory drilling is an inherently dangerous business. Many of AKD’s 500 employees work with very large, hydraulically operated drill rigs that have multiple moving parts. These drillers are often the first to arrive at remote locations with no infrastructure and where the nearest town or phone reception can be several hours away. Safety is critical.
New AKD employees take government-required safety training and go through a multiple-step “safety passport” training process within the company. However, employees were still having accidents.
 No hand or finger pinch-point accidents on core rigs since CTS virtual-reality training began.
Solution
AKD asked Commercial Training Solutions (CTS), a leading provider of virtual-reality training resources, to develop programs that could help cut their accident rate in half the following year.
The drilling company had analyzed a year’s worth of data to determine the cause of past employee accidents – what time of day/night, what extremity was injured, employee position, beginning or end of the work project, etc. It concluded that accidents were most often related to fingers and pinch points, to helpers with less than one year of experience, and on diamond core rigs during a couple of specific tasks in the drilling process.
CTS developed four virtual-reality training modules to improve safety on the most accident-prone tasks: Extracting the Inner Tube, Tripping In, Tripping Out and Working at Heights. These interactive, hands-on lessons were more engaging and resulted in greater retention than traditional training methods. They also helped bridge the gap between classroom training and on-the-job training.
In July 2012, AKD conducted a training kick-off event with key personnel and testimonies from accident victims. Management affirmed their commitment to reducing accidents and enlisted everyone’s participation.
CTS helped the drilling company train two safety personnel and two operations personnel to conduct the new virtual reality training with employees. CTS virtual reality training modules were used by approximately 80 drill site workers at three remote sites in Peru that have the type of drill rigs previously involved in employee accidents.
Results
Ten months after implementing CTS’ virtual reality training programs, AKD has reduced its accident rate 100 percent. The company has had no hand or finger pinch-point accidents on core rigs since the training began in July 2012.
“Our employees were over-the-top excited that management would value them with a training program of this caliber.”
With fewer accidents, AKD has significantly reduced insurance claims and down time. Insurance company premiums have decreased, and the company no longer has to put a down payment on insurance claims.
The positive reaction from employees was just as important. “Our employees were over-the-top excited that management would value them with a training program of this caliber,” said Steve Alford, Chief Operating Officer with AKD International. “They expressed total enthusiasm. Even the operational people bought into it. This is cutting-edge, industry-leading type of training. Any company that has CTS’ virtual reality programs has made a significant investment in the safety and care of its employees.”
The new training has had an exceptional impact on AKD’s reputation. The company’s safety record and training program has helped it win new customer bids. World-class mining companies have even asked AKD to train their own employees.
Alford said the process of working closely with CTS on-site to design the modules was beneficial. “Our employees got behind the idea and knew what was coming before it was launched. There was already an attitude of gratitude in our company for six months while the VR modules were being built.”
Going through the design process with CTS also helped AKD improve its procedures. “We realized that our standard operating procedures were pretty weak,” said Alford.
“If we can do in eight hours of virtual reality training what we can do in one week of lectures, that’s the savings opportunity for everyone involved.”

“There are probably at least a dozen ways to do a specific task. But when we train, we need to know this is the way AKD does this task and this is the expectation for our workers. We also started thinking of other areas we want to address.”
Alford sees more opportunities for using virtual reality training at AKD and in the industry. “It would be great to get these programs approved as part of the government-required training,” said Alford. “If we can do in eight hours of virtual reality training what we can do in one week of lectures, that’s the savings opportunity for everyone involved.”