RiggerSafe® on Drilling Rigs — Engineered Stand-Off Load Guidance for Tubular Handling
RiggerSafe® / Applications / Drilling Rigs
Application Environment — Drilling Rigs

THE CRANE CARRIES
THE PIPE.
FIND THE HAND.

On drilling rigs, crane-assisted tubular handling and equipment positioning still bring workers into close physical contact with suspended loads. The engineering question is not why the hand appears. It is why the task requires it to be there.

9 Working Lengths
3 Contact Configurations
70+ Identified Task Situations
10+ Years Field Development
THE PIPE IS SUSPENDED.
THE CRANE HAS THE WEIGHT.
FIND THE HAND.
The pipe handling system has brought the tubular to the deck.
The crane has it suspended.
It needs to move laterally. A few inches. Into position on the rack.

Somebody reaches for it.

Not because there is no procedure. Not because the rig lacks engineering. Modern drilling operations deploy pipe handling systems, automated racking boards, iron roughnecks and top drives. The heavy mechanical work — torquing, spinning, lifting high — has been substantially engineered.

But the final phase of crane-assisted tubular logistics still frequently requires a person to make physical contact with a suspended load. The pipe is almost where it needs to be. It needs a small lateral correction. It needs to be guided onto the rack without hands going between adjacent pipes. It needs to be oriented before the crane sets it down.

The engineering stops. The hand begins.

This is not a unique failure of the drilling industry. It is the same last-metre problem observed across steel plants, fabrication shops, shipyards and offshore installations. The load still needs to move. The gap between the crane's positioning capability and the load's final required position is covered by a body.

Find the hand. Understand what it is doing. Then ask whether that function can be performed from further away.

The Central Observation
FIND
THE
HAND.
™ — A Field Observation Concept

On a drilling rig, the hand appears during crane-assisted tubular logistics — during the final guided movement of pipe, casing, collars and equipment onto racks, foundations and prepared landing points. That is where Find The Hand™ points.

It does not point at the iron roughneck. It does not point at pipe make-up. It points at the crane-lift phase where a suspended load needs to move into its final position and a worker's body provides the guidance.

The Problem on Drilling Rigs

WHERE THE
HAND APPEARS

Drilling rigs move large quantities of heavy tubular goods — drill pipe, casing, heavy-weight drill pipe, drill collars, and associated bottom-hole assembly components — throughout their operational cycle. Much of this movement is crane-assisted.

During the approach and landing phase of those crane lifts, the load is suspended and moving. Workers position themselves to guide the tubular onto the rack, into the correct bay, or onto a prepared landing point. The distance between a suspended pipe and the adjacent rack, pipe, or structure may be small. The correction required is modest. But the hand is the tool being used to make it.

The same pattern emerges with equipment positioning — mud pumps, motors, BHA components and rig equipment arriving from supply vessels or moving between deck locations. The crane brings the load close. Final placement requires a guided physical input from a worker.

The rig has a handling
system and a make-up
system.
The gap between them
still belongs to the hand.
RiggerSafe® addresses the crane-assisted guidance phase — the moment between the pipe handling system setting down the load and the rack receiving it.
THE RIG IS ENGINEERED.
THE LAST METRE IS NOT.
Where RiggerSafe® May Be Applicable

CRANE-ASSISTED
TUBULAR LOGISTICS
& EQUIPMENT POSITIONING

Tubular Handling
on the Pipe Deck
Loading drill pipe, casing and heavy-weight drill pipe onto pipe racks may involve a worker guiding the suspended joint laterally during the final approach. RiggerSafe® may allow that lateral guidance to be applied without the worker placing hands on the suspended tubular or between adjacent pipes on the rack.
Tubular Movement
Between Deck & Catwalk
As tubulars are transferred between deck and catwalk positions, crane-assisted movement may require orientation or positional correction during the final guided phase. A stand-off rigid interface may assist without requiring the worker to handle the suspended load directly.
BHA Components
& Drill Collars
Stabilisers, drill collars, crossovers and related bottom-hole assembly equipment are heavy and require careful crane-assisted placement. During the final positioning phase onto prepared supports or racks, a stand-off interface may reduce direct hand contact with the suspended component.
Cargo Basket &
Equipment Landings
Equipment arriving from supply vessels — and cargo baskets moving to and from the rig deck — requires guided landing. During the controlled final descent, workers may use their bodies to orient and steady the load. RiggerSafe® may allow that steadying and orientation function to be applied from stand-off.
Rig Equipment
Positioning
Mud pumps, motors and other rig equipment lifted into final position on foundations or prepared landing points may require small corrections as the crane sets the load down. A rigid stand-off interface may assist final positioning without the worker applying direct body contact to the suspended equipment.
Tagline Retrieval
from Stand-Off
After a load has landed, approved taglines may need to be retrieved or redirected. The integrated pull feature of the RiggerSafe® head may allow tagline retrieval without the worker moving toward the load to reach for the line by hand.

In each case, the applicable principle is the same as across all RiggerSafe® environments: the task requires a physical input to guide a suspended load. The question is whether that input can be applied from a stand-off position rather than by direct body contact.

Selection of RiggerSafe® for any specific drilling rig application requires a task-specific assessment. The working length, required separation, available working space and load geometry must govern selection.

The Observation — Every Time
DIFFERENT LOAD.
DIFFERENT RIG.
SAME HAND.
Drill pipe. Casing. Collars. Cargo baskets. Rig equipment.
The load changes. The reaching hand does not.
Scope & Limits — Important

WHERE RIGGERSAFE®
DOES NOT APPLY

During active drilling — rotating pipe or rotary system in operation
Pipe make-up and connection operations — stabbing, aligning or making up drill pipe connections
Inside the iron roughneck, tong, slips or elevator operating zone
Holding, supporting or lifting the weight of a tubular
Arresting or stopping a swinging or moving suspended joint
Prying, levering or repositioning racked pipe
Working while the top drive or rotary system is active
Replacing approved taglines or mechanised pipe-handling equipment
Any task that requires the worker to remain beneath a suspended load
For the Pipe Connection & Stabbing Phase
PSC Stabbing Guides & HSF Drill Pipe Connection Guide
RiggerSafe® addresses crane-assisted load guidance. The pipe connection and stabbing phase is a separate task with its own engineered interface requirement. PSC offers the PSC Stabbing Guides (PSC-SGD Series) and the HSF Drill Pipe Connection Guide for that phase. Contact PSC for the right option for your application.
DISTANCE
IS A
CONTROL.

On a drilling rig, the consequence of hand contact with a suspended tubular is well understood. Drill pipe, casing and collars are heavy. They are under crane tension. They swing. They can pinch, crush and trap.

Stand-off distance does not eliminate those hazards. What it changes is the worker's physical relationship with them — increasing the separation between the body and the load's movement envelope at the moment of guidance.

That separation is an engineering contribution. Not a guarantee of safety. But a measurable improvement in the worker's position relative to the hazard during the crane-assisted guidance phase.

Reduces direct hand contact with suspended tubulars during the guidance phase
Moves the worker's hands and arms away from between the load and adjacent structures
Allows lateral guidance and positional correction from stand-off
Provides a rigid interface for steady, controlled input — not improvised hand pressure
Applicable where a competent task assessment determines stand-off guidance is appropriate
The RiggerSafe® Platform
ONE PLATFORM.
NINE LENGTHS.
9
Working Lengths
3
Contact Configurations
70+
Identified Task Situations
RiggerSafe® product family — 9 working lengths across Industrial Blue, Neon Green and Safety Yellow variants

The nine working lengths of the RiggerSafe® family reflect the range of working spaces, separation requirements and load geometries encountered across industrial environments. A confined pipe rack requires a different working length than an open deck equipment landing.

Selection is task-specific and must be governed by a site assessment — required separation, available working space, load geometry and the lift plan. Contact PSC for application guidance.

Three colour variants — Industrial Blue, Neon Green and Safety Yellow — carry the same specification. Colour provides field identification.

Rubber
Standard contact configuration. Provides controlled grip on the load surface during the guidance movement. Suited to a broad range of load geometries and surface conditions.
Aluminium
Hard contact configuration for applications where the rubber configuration is not appropriate. Task and application specific — selection governed by assessment.
Teflon (PTFE)
Low-friction contact configuration for applications where reduced friction or surface protection at the contact point is a task requirement.
Each RiggerSafe® is supplied in a fixed contact configuration. Configurations are not field-interchangeable. Contact PSC for selection guidance.
A Challenge

TOMORROW,
WALK THE
PIPE DECK.

Don't look for RiggerSafe®.

Look for hands.

Watch crane-assisted tubular movements. Watch the moment the pipe approaches the rack. Watch where workers position themselves as cargo baskets land. Watch what happens in the last phase of a BHA component placement — after the crane has the weight, before the rack has the pipe.

Every time you see a hand near a suspended load, ask the same two questions:

What function is that hand performing?
Could that function be performed from further away?

That is where the engineering conversation begins.

FIND
THE
HAND.™
RIGGERSAFE®
Engineered Stand-Off Load Guidance
9Working Lengths
3Contact Configurations
70+Identified Task Situations
Developed from more than a decade of field experience in stand-off load guidance. Selection for drilling rig applications requires task-specific assessment.
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