Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark01GT
Have you heard any incidents about tankers spontaneously exploding? That is my biggest fear... maybe a shock from static electricity, or a lightning strike. Do you ever get nervous around lightning storms when your delivering? I mean you have to stand there outside while it's happening. If a lightning bolt strikes the truck, would it blow up?
Yeah it sounds pretty dumb but I am only 24 yrs old, so I have a long life ahead of me, and I want to live it safely.
thanks mark
Mark, I have not ever heard of a spontaneous explosion. I have heard, and seen the results of trucks that exploded due to fire, and from over pressure, in the case of Propane and Butane. Lightning will start an above ground storage tank on fire, but with the way tankers are built today, unless something really unusual is wrong, lightning does not affect them. Of course..when there is lightning in the area, common sense dictates that you wait for it to pass, before loading or unloading.
Your biggest worry is over filling an Underground Storage Tank at a C-store, or over filling an above ground tank at a Bulk Plant. You can prevent both types of over fill by simply doing the job properly. You should always stick a UST manually, never rely on the electronic system in the store. Most times those systems are not calibrated when they are installed in the tanks. When delivering to a Bulk terminal, always read closely, the Free Access papers provided by the Terminal Personel, and follow out ever line you hook to, before ever opening a valve. Free Access paperwork tells a driver exactly which tanks to deliver product to, and how much each tank can hold.
Pretty easy, when you put your training to practical use.
Also...You always hear about gas tankers in accidents. Yes, I have seen tankers go up in flames. BUT, there was always a reason why that happened in an accident, and 9 times out of 10, speed and carelessness, were and are the major factor. When you flip a truck that is full of gasoline over at 45 to 70 miles an hour, bad things happen. If the driver has been doing drugs, the worst usually does happen.
I had a car go under my trailer in 1997, while traveling south on I-5, through North Seattle. Traffic cameras confirmed My version of the accident, and allowed the Washington State Patrol to see firsthand, exactly what occured in the 5 miles before the accident, as well as the accident itself. The video backed up what I wrote down for the first officer that responded. The little SOB that went under my trailer, is currently in prison at Maricopa Arizona, finishing up a 12 year term for Felony Vehicular Manslaughter. After Arizona, little SOB gets to serve 17 years at Lompoc CA for the same crime, then gets to move on to Washington State to serve 5 years for the accident with me. Only reason he was caught (he was involved in and convicted of Insurance Fraud schemes as well), I was supposed to see little SOB coming at me from the left and move right to avoid him...and hit a car that was camped at my right fender. His misjudgement on where my attention was focused (on the car on my right..it was 2 am) caused him to run under my trailer, where he ended up getting sucked up against the cargo tank by the Dolly axles. After his car came to a stop, he was found strapped into a racing harness. He liked to shit his pants when the firefighter told him he was lucky to be alive...(my trailer held 6900 gallons of AVgas 100, the truck held 4900 gallons of the same). Little SOB had thought I was empty, and started blabbering to the firefighter how I was supposed to hit his friend, not him. LOL...Seattle Fire has all their radios recorded, and that firefighter had his mic locked on broadcast, while working on the car to get little SOB out. My driving record does not list a MVA, rather, I was listed as a victim of a crime.