Storing PPE

what facilities do you deliver the waste to? what companies are the competition for your company?

just curious, i have been involved with hazardous waste in the past.

 

Only competition I personally deal with are sparks transportation and Phillips recoveries. Contrary to some belief, clean harbors is not competition. They're a customer

I deliver wastes generally to landfills, or to the local Vopak facility. I sometimes take the used oil or recycled fuel oils to various petroleum places. It really depends. When you go to the hazardous waste landfill is when it gets serious. You walk on some vicious stuff. I wear a full tyvek suit, rubber boots, respirator and all there.

It's a pain, but if you did it before, then you know how well compensated we are for handling that real dangerous stuff, and some of the stuff we deal with really is as bad as you can imagine. The real crappy stuff are the highly toxic gas wastes. It doesn't take but a small leak to kill you quickly. This field is NOT for the faint of heart, or the nervous types. You gotta be very confident in your abilities, and gotta know your regulations and handling rules very well.

 

i have been to a few different landfills up north with a roll-off. model city,ny , one around toledo,oh. and wayne?,mi. (in the 1980's).
i know with hazardous waste transporter you usually get to know many different types of equipment.

what is a vopak? and do you go to any clean harbor facilities?

 

Vopak is the name of a company that recycles or mixes for landfill delivery various wastes. Yea, we pick up a lot from clean harbors. One of the biggest customers for our OTR van division.

Yea, I use lots of equipment. Roll off boxes, tankers, end dumps, and vans.

 

Find a cheap plastic tool box large enough to store your gear in. Drill a couple of holes in the bottom for drainage. Get some heavy duty bungee cords and strap it behind the cab. Worked for me for years. Most places you load or unload at where you have to suit up have a safety shower. You can wash any contamination off there. Check with plant personnel to see if there is an alarm on the safety shower, so the safety crew don't come running if you use it. My hard hat and safety glasses and respirator stayed in the cab with me. Everything else went in the box behind the cab.

 

I did the same thing w/ a metal box full of fittings which sat inside the coiled 50' air hose we used to blow off loads w/ the compressor.

Thing is I now see people complaining that the DOT guys are cracking down on stuff riding on the deck plate. Your mileage may vary!

BTW good advise about checking b/4 using the safety shower, I had a guy who would let them run on hot days and stand under them in his acid suit to cool off. One plant it triggered a plant wide response. There he was watching his trailer as the plant fire engine came screaming out to his location. I used to make a point of checking for alarms b/4 showing trainees to test if the shower works.

Oh Yeah, keep your dirty gloves and fittings out of the eyewash! If you ever need it; you won't have time to 'look' and see if it is clean!

 

I've seen modified headache racks made to carry hoses w/ locked storage at the bottom. also seen a plastic tool box for a mini pickup mounted just behind the cab, the two lids allowed access from either side.

Usually your gloves are under the seat but I always taught students to try and keep an extra pair and toss ones that were really trashed. Same as I always taught them to always wear goves when touching anything on the tank. The cleaners focus more on the inside, yuou never know what could be left stuck to the ladder, etc.

 

agreed. the key issue is that any product contamination needs to be away from the tractor cab. if you are slipseating or different tractor everyday, then you need creative ways to keep that mess outside of the cab.

 

I'm not a tank driver but handle wet salty chains and strap's,I use rubber gloves my propane delv. driver uses and put thin army surpplus wool gloves in them,keeps the funky smell out