Refinery explosion

[dmccarty]

However, if I see a chemical truck or train turned over, belching gases and foul smelling fumes, the last thing I am going to do is go get close enough to it to see the placard so I will know what I am breathing. I will be heading the opposite direction with the pedal to the metal.

And that is very wise. Just remember to stay uphill and upwind. If you hear a report that the refinery has a spill of blah blah blah then you can look it up and decide if you should stay put or run like heck.

We used to live next to a very active rail line with lots of tank traffic. Not more than a 1/2 mile to the house. I'm very happy to not live there any more. The next town over, about a mile or two away, had a hazardous material refuse company. The companies buildings caught on fire a few years back and a good part of the town had to evacuate. They stopped the evacuation just short of my old subdivision. Nobody paid attention to the company. Until after the fire.

Haz Mat is all over the place. Its on trains, trucks, at Walmart, Lowes, heck some of it is in the garage. Hopefully not alot is in the garage though.

A propane truck having an accident can be a very bad thing. There is a quarry south of us and I see the truck with the orange placard heading their way from time to time. Said truck is full of stuff made to go boom. And I would bet that only 1 person out of 100 that passes that boom truck know what is in that truck. Otherwise they migtht pass the truck more carefully but I bet faster.

Later,
Dan

 

[Wis Bang]

Initial first responder training chapter one is 'Binoculars & Tennis Shoes" or how to read a placard safely b/4 employing the running shoes...Thankfully most states now have 'first responder' training [HAZWOPPER] which defines who should be the one w/ the binoculars and gives them the training to do so safely.

Most people have no idea what the HM placards mean though the information is readily available. Explosives are divided into 6 sub sections and 1.1, 1.2, & 1.3 [the worst] all require a written routing plan, and a Hazardous Materials Safety Permit which requires the 'max' liability insurance [$5 million] and a satisfactory safety rating. Same regulations apply to radioactives and toxics [poisons] with inhallation hazards.

The problem w/ Haz Mat is the fact that it is so important to our modern society and the fact that it is everywhere. I can't begin to describe the number of shipments off '1,2,3,Kill You Quick' that I have sent down the highways.

We hauled drummed products in stainless steel drums that looked capable of surviving a neculear blast. Before opening the doors, the driver had to crack one and take a measured air sample thru a dragger tube and add a reagent to make sure that the product [odorless and looks like water] wasn't in the atmosphere inside the van. If it was he was expected to suit up in level B w/ SCBA and enter the trailer w/ epoxy sticks to stop the leak...you may be driving alongside him!

 

[Tig]

...within limits!

Whenever I see that disclaimer I understand it to mean "Legal Limits" as opposed to any measure of what my human body can tolerate.

 

[Egon]

When we'd get some smell at work it always bothered the ladies in the office first, as well as limp-wristed 'wes'. My boss called it fag detector. We always had a 'mask' mixed up in spray bottles either Bubble Gum or Goofy Grape to spray around the stairwells, etc.

I can recall fellows saying that after years of working around H2S gas they had become immune to it. Don't think they ever knew that the ability to detect odors was one of the first senses disabled by H2S!

Also knew fellows who said asbestos fibers did not bother them!

Them were sure some tough old boys !

 

[GreenLawnFarm]

too many people just deciding to take personal time and leave work when they want. sounds like the supervisors need a supervisor.