Tanker training

Check out wsyrob's thread about working for Superior Carriers- they are a food grade tanker outfit and in RARE instances do hire noobs.

 

First I'll say my hat is off to you guys that haul the really nasty stuff. I'm with you Rick, I feel that being trained in what you're hauling is most important and is also required. Personal protection is tops with my company and we're just in the gasoline business.

Yukon, the reason your truck doesn't surge as much is because of compartments and the baffles inside those compartments. We also drive the super tankers in Las Vegas Nevada and a normal load was 12450 gallons. We had trucks that had a tank mounted to the power unit with two compartments and we'd load 1550 in the rear compartment and 3200 in the front. The truck was then hooked to a 4 axle trailer with a 20 foot draw bar. On the trailer we had 3 compartments, the front was 3250,middle was 1650, and the rear was 2800. But the truck wasn't filled near capacity but we couldn't go much more because our annual permit would only allow 110,000lbs IIRC. We also had a drop axle that we would lower when loaded and that was located right behind the fuel tank. We had to take weight of the front steer.

We were never considered first responders to any incident. Our job was to save lives and control the spill if possible. Each driver was trained in all the charcteristics of gasoline and diesel and we could put small fires out but the company did not want us acting as first responders. That was for the fire department to handle.

We were there to load and unload as safety as possible to avoid any incidents and that's why the company took the extra effort to train us. Just about always they'd hired experienced drivers and that had to be on tankers. But once in awhile we would promote from within and train the person ourselfs. Sometimes that worked out very well. I would help in that training and one tip I would use is the coffee cup. I'd place a coffee cup 3/4 full with water on the dashboard or somewhere like that and tell the driver "ok lets go and try not to spill a drop". That's the kind of smooth driving that is needed for tankers.

 

????? When I started fuel hauling, I basically had a guy riding shotgun for a week to get me used to our equipment and get me qualified at my first refinery. Then he would ride shotgun every couple of days or weeks for my first run to any new facilities until I had all the majors covered. lp, anhydrous and fuel... after about 3 months they let me go alone, still took three trips to a facility to get carded though.

I'm sure that cost them a fortune but????? me no go boom either... lol

here at gless... doing chemicals... had a week of training... and a list of phone numbers to call for help if I wasn't sure of something. It is faster paced here but still safe... where your suit ppe don't eat the big white mint... call if you aren't positive...

thus far chemical facilities are much much easier than refineries and dropping in a bulk plant at 2a.m. with no lighting and you've never been there before... lol

but as far as the driving part goes... the chem tanker is a heck of a lot harder to drive with the sloshing around....

hmmm.... but they are heavier empty and therefore more stable in winter... an all aluminum MT gas hauler on icy roads will have you biting the seat cushion...

each to his own... chemicals pays better... atleast here they do.

 

Chemical suit whats that lol

 

I hauled gasoline and diesel in the 70's for a couple of years. When I went to work for Chemical Leaman in the mid 80's I was ####y because I had tanker experience from hauling gasoline. They sent me with a trainer running short stuff for 2 weeks. My first load was a load of Formaldehyde. After I was loaded I slowly pulled out and onto the scale, hit the brakes,let off then hit them again. There was no way my experience with fuel tankers prepared me for smooth bore tankers. The surge hit the forward bulkhead so hard it pushed me off the scale. The guy training me just said, "You'll have to change your driving habits". I learned real quickthe hard way. That was one of the best jobs I ever had once I got used to it.

 

only drove a tanker a few times I found slow and steady wins the race taking off and stopping

 

Not sure four extra weeks of training would do much good. I had a few more days of training than sixunder at Gless but only because I was entirely new to the whole liquid bit. As I stated before I think a little wizz came out the first time the surge hit me. I remember running down a straight highway my second day really noticing the sloshing sensation coming from the tank. Now after four months I still get clobbered ocasionally by the surge but am accustomed to the driving sloshing and don't notice it much.

As far as handling the chemicals it seems each outfit is so specialized. Six does mostly amonia I believe while we are mainly caustic, acids and lysine. There are a few others here and there but not much. I notice some of the other carriers I see all seem to have their own niches as well.

The best advice I got from my trainer was "take your time and pay attention". It seems to work as I still locate the emer. showers when I roll up and am not bashful about testing them. I was provided with phone numbers for every driver out of my terminal plus my manager and the yard guy. I was even provided numbers all the way up the chain including the general manager of the company. When they say call if you have questions they really mean it.

Finally the thing that still blows my mind is how friendly and helpful drivers with other companies have been. It is a nice switch from the dock bumping world where the newbie at a location faced a pack of impatient drivers that offered little to no help.

 

we do mostly sbs, mbs, aqua ammonia, sulfuric acid, koh, kcl, some stuff called chemclean,

and a little bit of something I haven't a clue what it is...

and some stuff that goes to the local nuke plant...

and

yeah I still give myself the surprized look every so often... butter smooth shift followed by WHAMO!!!

where'd that come from???? lol

good stuff...

 

May be the wrong board but I just started driving a tanker full of LP GAS , any help on test prep for RRC certification or just advice , thanks.
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