Western Drilling Inc. safety record at a glance
Western Drilling Inc. has been the subject of 8 Cal/OSHA inspections in California since 2000, opened between Oct 18, 2000 and Feb 17, 2006. 6 of them were accident inspections. 2 of them produced citations, 2 in all: 0 serious. Inspectors proposed $610 in penalties; after appeals and settlements the current total is $610. The largest single penalty, $425, came from an inspection opened Oct 18, 2000 in Fellows. That places the employer at #61,724 of 122,854 California employers in the database by penalties.
Industry as coded by the inspecting office: Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction. Worksites in Taft, San Ardo, McKittrick, Fellows.
Every inspection, newest first
Click a date for the citations in that inspection.
| Opened | City | Why | Result | Proposed | Penalty | Closed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 17, 2006 | Taft | Accident | no citations | 0 | 0 | Apr 2, 2007 |
| Oct 8, 2004 | San Ardo | Accident | no citations | 0 | 0 | Oct 29, 2004 |
| Dec 12, 2003 | Taft | Accident | no citations | 0 | 0 | May 6, 2004 |
| Jul 31, 2003 | Taft | Accident | no citations | 0 | 0 | Dec 30, 2003 |
| Apr 24, 2002 | McKittrick | Unprogrammed related | 1 citation | $185 | $185 | Dec 23, 2002 |
| Apr 24, 2002 | Taft | Accident | no citations | 0 | 0 | Oct 11, 2002 |
| Oct 18, 2000 | Fellows | Accident | 1 citation | $425 | $425 | Apr 10, 2001 |
| Oct 18, 2000 | Fellows | Programmed related | no citations | 0 | 0 | Feb 15, 2001 |
Also recorded as: Western Drilling, Inc; Western Drilling dba Western Well Service; Western Drilling, Inc.; Western Drilling.
The rules this employer was cited under
- 8 CCR 3328, Machinery and equipment, general: 1 citation, $425
- 8 CCR 3210, Guardrails at elevated locations: 1 citation, $185
Accidents investigated
How to read this record
Each row is one inspection by Cal/OSHA (or, rarely, federal OSHA) of one worksite. Why is the reason it was opened. Proposed is the penalty the inspector assessed; penalty is the current figure after any appeal or settlement. "Serious" means a realistic possibility of death or serious harm; "willful" and "repeat" carry penalties up to $162,851 each.
Citations document that the employer was told, in writing, what the rule required and when. That knowledge is often the center of a retaliation case: a worker who complained about the hazard an inspector later cited, and was then fired or cut, has a Labor Code 6310 claim, with lost wages and attorney's fees.
Full explainer: how to read a Cal/OSHA record.
If you work, or worked, at Western Drilling Inc.
Write down what you reported, to whom and when, and what changed afterward: shifts, pay, duties, write-ups. Request the inspection file from the Cal/OSHA district office using the activity number on the inspection page. An injury goes through workers' compensation; a firing, demotion or threat after a safety complaint or injury report is an employment claim with a one-year deadline at the Labor Commissioner (Labor Code 6310) and a longer one in court. Free, confidential review: (800) 371-3088 or send what you have.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor OSHA enforcement data, California inspections. Record last checked Nov 1, 2026. Back to the safety tracker.
About this data: Records come from the U.S. Department of Labor's OSHA enforcement datasets (inspection, violation, accident and accident injury tables), which carry Cal/OSHA's state-plan inspections alongside federal ones. We load every inspection of a California worksite opened since January 1, 2000 and refresh it weekly. Employer names, addresses and industry codes are as the inspecting office recorded them; similar names are grouped where they clearly refer to the same employer. A citation can be reduced, vacated or withdrawn on appeal, and an inspection can stay open for months, so a record can change. Penalties shown as "current" reflect the latest status in the federal file. This page is public information about the employer's regulatory record, not legal advice and not a statement that any person was harmed or any law broken beyond what the record states.