PETROL FUMES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17180, 10 February 1930, Page 9

PETROL FUMES

A STRANGE ACCIDENT MAN NEARLY ASPHYXIATED A county council foreman in a Wairarapa township lias every reason to thank Providence that lie is alive to-day '. He had pumped out a Ikjwsoi' lank as far as possible, and then decended into the tank to clear out the remainder of the petrol and somo water l which Jiad iound its way in. He was immediately overcome by fumes, and lay there unconscious for nearly Iwo hours, being louml by his wife, who went to call him to dinner. He is now recovering, after being resuscitated with the greatest difficulty. FIRST CASK OK KIND IN N.Z. Jt would appear that a continued immersion of any part of the laxly in benzine, has a harmful effect, for the man's upper* arm and left leg looked as if they had been burned and blistered, and the skin was rubbed off while getting him ou of the tank. This caused him considerable pain for a lew days, requiring medical attention. Had bis wife been a few minutes later, said the doctor, the man would have been 'beyond recovery. (So far as can be ascertained it is the lirst case of the kind which has occurred m New Zealand, probably foi' the reason that mice the J links and bowsers are installed and in proper working order there, is no reason to enter the tank unless something goes wrong inside it, as the mechanical portion is outside. Mr Girling Butcher, deputy chief inspector of explosives, when his attention was drawn to the facts, said it was the lirst case ofl the kind which had come to the notice of the department. Most of the tanks were under the control of the oil companies, who had experts dealwit li this particular pbaso of their business. There was an agreement between them and the department as to the method of gas freeing the tanks when repairs were necessary, or" when it was necessary to enter I hem for any purpose. The regulation definitely provided certain precautions to be taken before a tank could be opened and entered.

<!AS> MASKS AN J) LlFfc LINKS

Inquiries among the experts of the leading oil companies indicated how strict are the precautions against any interference with bowser tanks. In one ease the expert said employees in all the "il works were well aware of the danger of petrol gas and were fully cognisant of the regulations under the'Act.' The strength of the gas would vary. In one company men have to sign a certificate, that they will never enter' a tank without taking the companv's standard precautions. First of all "thev must- wear a gas mask, and must be accompanied Iby another man in charge of a life line attached to the man who is to enter the tank. The breaking of those instructions is cause for instant dismissal, hut the men observe the roles because disobedience maycost them their lives, it- the ordinal* way the company has a special extraction pump for taking any water condensation from the tanks, Any light taken into a tank bus to be of an approved pattern, an electric band lamp-winch is absolutely safe in an explosive atmosphere, said an official of the company. This expert said he bad heard of similar cases, but not in New Zealand, and such were probably in tanks not belonging to any of the companies, which did their own repairs when required.