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FROM THE PORCH SWING WHEW!
Did you hear about the black pool in Blackpool? About how a huge (an huge) crude oil spill contaminated much of the coastal environment in and around the seaside resort
Did you hear about the nitro that went boom in Nitro? About how on a frigid morning in Nitro, West Virginia, USA, a truck carrying medicinal nitroglycerine in alcohol blew up while crossing a set of railroad tracks? Chemists say that at very cold temperature nitroglycerine can drop out of solution and become shock-sensitive. Of course you didn’t. Due to thoroughly excellent Dangerous Goods training in package cushioning requirements, that situation never happened. Even when briefly out of solution, the shock-sensitive nitroglycerine inside the packages was well protected, and the shock of going over the railroad tracks was absorbed. Did you hear about the paint spill in the Painted Desert? About how a truck driver reported to the television news that she “was driving up a long grade, and I heard some noise from the back. Then, some clanging and sliding, and all of a sudden the truck jumped
town of Blackpool in Lancashire, UK? Of course you didn’t. Due to thoroughly excellent Dangerous Goods training in emergency response information provision requirements, that situation never happened. The oil was contained by properly trained and informed personnel, immediately upon beginning to leak.
ahead like the load was gone. I stopped immediately, but it was too late.” About how the TV newscaster said “hundreds of gallons of paint spilled out of the back of truck, leaving multi-colored streaks down the hillside, literally painting the Painted Desert”. Of course you didn’t. Due to thoroughly excellent
What a year! 2020 was quite something different than the usual, wasn’t it? As I sit on my porch swing and watch fireworks celebrate the arrival of the midnight between December 31st and January 1st, I’m thinking about how so many people are so happy because a year filled with bad news is over. And I, too, hated so much of 2020’s bad news. But, as often happens when pondering takes place on my porch swing, thoughts went elsewhere. Elsewhere in this case refers to good news in 2020. “What”, you might ask, “there was good news in 2020?”. Well, you didn’t hear about it, but there was. As an old friend used to say before explaining something, “now lemme tell ya…”
HCB MONTHLY | JANUARY 2021
Dangerous Goods training in load securement requirements, that situation never happened. Even at a steep angle, the pallets of paint were blocked and braced into position, couldn’t move, and never slammed into the back door to force it open, even up a very steep grade. Did you hear about the petrel chicks killed by petrol? About how a cliff full of nests of an endangered species of petrel was inundated with petrol (gasoline)? The driver came around a curve, noticed liquid in the road behind him, and pulled over to investigate. Unfortunately, the improperly closed valve continued to leak petrol down the cliffside, killing chicks, and likely rendering any unhatched eggs non-viable. Of course you didn’t. Due to thoroughly excellent Dang Good training in valve closure and loading requirements, that situation never happened. The valve was securely closed when the tank truck was filled, AND, it was re-checked by the driver for proper closure before the truck left the tank farm property. Did you hear about the sulfur burns suffered in Sulphur Springs? About how, near the iconic Sulphur Springs tower in the Sulphur Springs neighborhood of Tampa, Florida, USA, ironically a local policeman suffered severe thermal burns and had to be taken to the hospital. A spilled truckload of solidifying sulfur was still hundreds of degrees in temperature, when the cop tried to kick some of it out of the lane of traffic he wanted to re-open. Of course you didn’t. Due to thoroughly excellent DG training in tanker marking requirements, such as the word “HOT” inside a diamond and a thermometer inside a triangle, that situation never happened. The tank did communicate the heat of the sulphur, and so the cop knew not to kick it. Did you hear about the BLEVE on Levi’s Levee? About how a railcar of what the railroad reported was “refrigerated flammable gas” unexpectedly blew sky high while crossing Levi’s Levee early one morning. The train had not derailed nor been in an accident. The local HazMat team suggested the gas was in a railcar made of a metal the gas gradually reacts with, causing a huge pressure buildup
