Moving to tankers from reefers

That's a normal feeling and indicates how important the details and avoiding mistakes are to you. That's a good thing. Use that feeling to motivate you to ask questions. I just began all of my questions with "this is probably a dumb question...". Some of my first customers I could tell they knew exactly what they were doing. I would sign-in, get directed to the proper place at the customer. Ask them if there was something I should know since I had never been here before and every customer was different. I'd listen to what they told me and then follow my procedure to hook up. In tanker after you hook up and double-check the last step is to open the unloading valve on the truck. If the customer impressed me as knowing their business, I would ask them to double-check my setup before I opened the valve. I would then use their walking around my truck and hoses as an opportunity to show them where my truck's emergency shut-off and unloading valve was at "in case I'm abducted by a UFO or run away with roaming cheerleaders." Reefer and dry van everyone is in a big hurry, they get hundreds of trucks per day. That's not how tanker works. Almost everyone is NOT in a hurry and nobody is going to want you to be in a hurry. I was lucky since I hauled the same product everywhere, and 99% of my unloads were done the same way, using the air-off procedure. I pumped air into the trailer and that air pressure pushed out the product. You can make a checklist for everything you do. My trainer gave me his checklist. With the right checklist I could operate a nuclear reactor, having never seen one or been inside one. Being careful is the goal, not being faster. Making a mistake is always far more time consuming than double-checking everything before you make a mistake. Follow your training.

 

Yeah I understand the issue with the distribution centers waiting to get unloaded, or waiting to be loaded putting up with the receivers, dispatch, dealing with lumpers, trying to sleep although this is the least of the issues as one can usually get used to the reefer running, my main issue was trying to sleep and getting interrupted at 2:00 am in the morning by a lot lizard wanting to go on a date.
With tankers you eliminate the noise issue, the only issue you really have to deal with is hauling hazmat you are now responsible for spills, depending on what kind of liquids your hauling. If its milk, fruit juice, or water you'll be fine, you'll also have a much shorter trailer so there much easier to back into tight places, and yes you will also now be free of those large distribution centers so the only downside is you will haul hazmat there is always a certain risk involved here, which is also the reason you get a higher pay rate.

 

I’m curious too even though I don’t pull a tank. An ex coworker of mine had gnarly scars on his hands and knuckles. I mean it looked like he got into a boxing match with a thorn bush. I asked him about it one time he said it was from his time hauling anhydrous and getting burned. I don’t think safety was necessarily in the top 3 back in the day.

 

PPE has improved but complacency still gets people burned. You need to use the PPE or it won't serve it's purpose.

PPE is there to get your butt out of a bad situation and under the safety shower.

That's it; it doesn't make you a superman where you can rush in and 'fix' the problem, leave that to the 'experts'.

Every single driver I've been associated with that was burned had ignored some aspect of his PPE.

The receiver may not have the same amount of PPE and I know of several instances where the driver wearing 100% of his PPE walked away without burns while the receiver went to the hospital.

Refineries were good for that, stressing the Nomex suits for fire protection while only giving the employee just a acid resistant jacket. He needed skin grafts to cover his butt where the acid ran off the jacket and ate right thru the Nomex....

 

Yup, the "old days" were more about moving product than safety. That's changed a lot and it needed to change. There's no do-overs with a tanker mistake.
I don't have a lot of experience with chemical tankers. Most of my hauling has been petroleum products. Some of the stuff that gets hauled in tankers I wouldn't want any part of.

 

That was perfect.
I start tanker hazmat in a few weeks
Owner operator with T.E.X. or Transportation Express I think they are out of Ames Iowa.
Hope it works out.

 

Just curious...do tanker customers actually let drivers use their bathroom?

I'm new to this business but I've already figured out that in reefer, you're often lucky if they even have a port-a-john. Last week a receiver had one of those big porta pottys with the foot pedal hand wash with actual soap and it felt like a luxury.

Overall I'm having fun so far but I definitely noticed the bathroom availability issue right off the bat.

 

Never had a problem. I have also been to plants where once you spot the trailer at the rack, they take you to a break room and get you when your trailer is done.
I have also been to places where you drop the trailer, they tell you where the nearest truckstop or restaurant is and call you when your trailer is ready to go.

 

2.5 years of making deliveries with trainees and never denied access to any wash/bathroom facilities except for that night we pumped out a leaking tank car next to a tree farm but it was dark and we had lots of trees to choose from....