Going the extra mile to gain their respect, trust and appreciation will lead to more effective and safer field campaigns
Beyond a good ice breaker and a laugh, I would advise taking time to earn respect from drillers and establish mutually beneficial relationships. This can go a long way where field work is concerned. Indeed, not doing so can have ramifications concerning not only the field work carried out, but also general morale at camp – and this is very important. You need a good working team, which includes drillers. They’re your companions in arms after all! [paragraph 1/8]
I have found that field work can be remarkably more efficient, pleasant, and easier if drillers, field assistants, and geologists all work together as one team. At the end of the day, everyone is there to do a job and get home safely, and this is much better done as one unit. [2/8]
“Team work makes the dream work!” (Kev Perry, air core rig master, see acknowledgement below)
Respect and appreciation are hard earnt by everyone in general. This can, in some cases, take time to achieve, depending on how sociable and friendly everyone is. Relationships can never be taken for granted. Communication and compromising skills are always involved, but just like any non-work situation, you don’t have to like everyone and not everyone has to like you either. The drilling industry attracts all sorts of people, and just like geologists, drillers are people too. For this reason, it advisable that you work on being genuine, humble, and communicating well with everyone always. [3/8]
In general, drillers are tough people, both mentally and physically. Exploration drilling is physically intensive work involving the operation of dangerous machinery in harsh environments, out in the middle of nowhere. It is also mentally demanding. All field workers (everyone included) can suffer particularly with loneliness due to being away from family and friends, especially on longer swings. Mental strength is as equally important as physical strength. It takes a mind in the right headspace not to mentally break down, and this is vital because you cannot easily get professional medical attention. It can be dangerous not only for the person breaking down, but for everyone else working with that person too. This is the nature of the work. It is hard. Whether it’s air core, RAB, RC, diamond, or sonic drilling, it takes tough hard-working people to carry it out safely and effectively. [4/8]
There’s no getting away from it, some drillers can be arrogant at times, but the difference between a good and a bad driller is compassion and understanding. A good driller will have these and therefore understand that everyone makes mistakes and generally most mistakes can be fixed. A good driller will also help his offsiders. No job is above or below them. Compromising and teamwork is what gets them through the day. [5/8]
Having worked with various different drillers and geologists, I realise that respect from the drillers is not always easy to come by especially if they have previous experience of working with geologists who are not in line with the core values of teamwork. Mix the odd arrogant and/or irritable geo with a smidgen of driller’s gossip and the result will be that the rest of us end up having to work with drillers who find it hard to respect and trust us. Unfortunately, the bad impressions tend to remain whilst the majority of good ones fade away. This, of course, works both ways and some geologists would say that drillers can be irritable and hard to work with. So, just like anything else in life, the minority can ruin it for the majority. [6/8]
But why care anyway? Well, it’s much better to be two to change a tyre, right? However more importantly, drillers drill holes. They get the precious samples we are after. Nurturing good relationships with the drillers can ensure you get good quality samples with minimal friction from your requests. Remember that our purpose for drilling differs from those of the drillers. They are drilling for meters because that is how they get paid. We, however, are drilling for samples. Making sure they are of good quality is our number 1 goal (after safety, that is). This can sometimes result in friction between the drill crew and the geo on site if the geo chooses to slow down the drilling rate for whatever reason. Slowing down the drilling rate can be beneficial, but the benefit should be weighed against their costs before making such a decision). [7/8]
Beyond field work, life becomes easier when everyone ‘has each other’s back’. It makes for a much happier camp in general, which keeps everyone going, especially on harder and longer stints. The level of cohesiveness will ultimately affect everyone’s working environment. Taking breaks with the drillers, being sociable and having a laugh together is all part of it. Plus, it is not hard to sit down with drillers and have a good laugh. In my experience, many are really interesting characters and often have a good sense of humour too. [8/8]
Hopefully this reaches those graduate geologists out there who are just starting out in their career. Working on rigs is often seen as a rite of passage (as Nick Tate would say), and if that’s the case for you, do consider going that extra mile. And don’t forget to enjoy the experience…
Dimitri
Acknowledgement: A big thank you to my friend Kev Perry who kindly helped and contributed to this article. He’s the best air core driller I’ve worked with.
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