Benzene, Merchant Marine and Cargo Ships
From Paul the Pirate. Want to see what the life of a Merchant Marine is like. Go read here how he and a shipmate had to go into a fuel storage tank that was registering traces of benzene.
Stuff:
I did my first tank dive of this trip on my way here over the weekend- my watch partner Orlando and I climbed down into the #6 starboard cargo tank, one of the smaller of our 14 cargo tanks... there was a trace of Benzene (a wicked carcinogen- it's possible to die of leukemia within a few days of a massive exposure) in the tank, so we were decked out in respirators... the concentration of benzene was under 1ppm, which is actually low enough that I could hang out in the tank for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week no problem (This is called Time-Weighted Exposure), but why take chances? Anyhow, Orlando and I had to vacuum up a little standing water- we prepped that tank to take on Jet fuel- essentially, the tank was pressure washed at 150PSI by our automatic system, and then we sucked the water out. Orlando and I did an inspection looking for dust and water- we found about a quart of water (amazing, really, when you look at the tank. You could fit an apartment house in it) in the sump well, and took care of that, then hot-footed it out. The chief mate gave us the rest of the day off. I think he felt bad about the benzene- normally, we don't deal with the stuff, but we carried gasoline in that tank the trip before. Even with forced-air ventilation and a wash, there was a trace.
