Drilling rigs have large and dangerous moving parts.  Monday, 28-year- old Abdal Audeh of Dover was struck and killed by one of them, reportedly an apparatus used to manipulate pipe.  Twenty-year-old Alex Cox of Cadiz, who was working with Audeh, was knocked backwards and suffered head lacerations, but was treated and released at Canton’s Mercy Medical Center. 

Carroll County Sheriff Dale Williams says the accident happened on a rig called “Brace West,” about  five miles north of Carrollton. 

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, regulates and monitors industrial sites.  Scott Allen of the agencies Chicago office: “OSHA has opened an investigation into the accident that occurred yesterday in Carrollton.  What we’ll do is start talking to employees, the employer, potential witnesses, and try to determine what might have caused this fatality.”

 Sheriff Williams say the rig is owned R.E. Gas Development, a subsidiary of Rex Energy.