Recently, several incidents have occurred where workers have been seriously injured while working with a pipe wrench and a drilling rod on a live drill rig.
In December 2021, WorkSafe prosecuted an exploration company for the death of a worker where a 48-inch pipe wrench struck the worker in the head. At the time of the incident a pipe wrench and hydraulic breakout wrench were being used by workers to crack or “break out” bound threads between the head tube locking sub and air swivel while applying hydraulic rotation.
Pipe wrenches are not designed to be used under hydraulic power. However, they are frequently placed on drill rigs to assist with separating drilling rods, specifically when they become cross threaded.