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Deadly lessons from the past
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Deadly lessons from the past
In 2016 a news channel in Texas ran a story about how oil field workers mysteriously dropped dead whilst on the job. The victims, some as young as 20, were working alone when they died but all of them were performing the same task, which ended in the same fatal circumstances.
The deaths were linked to a task those workers were performing, climbing up on top of storage tanks to measure or sample the oil or gas condensate inside. Some of the men were found slumped over the tank hatch or laying at the base of the tank.
A 63 year old with 20 years experience as a truck driver picking up loads of oil and gas condensate from storage tanks was one of the victims. He would have to “thief” the tank first, opening up what’s called the “thief hatch” on top and lowering a small container down into the tank to grab a sample. In the industry it’s called manual gauging.
His body was located dead next to his truck and the autopsy ruled it a natural death due to cardio vascular disease.
NIOSH, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health examined this case and linked nine other deaths in the past five years to the toxic vapors workers were exposed to during manual gauging and transfer operations. The common factor was that all had opened up the tank hatches. They had instantly been overcome by the toxic chemical vapors.
In all the previous cases an autopsy had ruled natural due to heart disease or cardio vascular disease. the doctor working for NIOSH reported, that It’s quite possible that in some cases the medical examiners and coroners may initially suspect sudden heart attack but in fact the death is caused acutely by these toxic vapors that cause the heart to go into an irregular rhythm.
The South Texas Energy and Economic Round table was aware of the NIOSH study and in a statement at the time of the incident said: “The industry continues to explore measures to lower/eliminate employee exposures during tank gauging and is validating alternative methods to gauge tanks.”
Researchers say workers should have been given respirators that supply them with fresh air. Better yet, remote technology should be developed so workers don’t have to open up the hatches.
Have we learnt from the deadly lessons in our history and if so, why do we still make the same mistakes today? The internet is a resource of sharing and learning, let’s make sure we do both!
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