Document KGo0GZdzRLjyeR83EwkO9935Q

Mr. R. C. Murphy New York Mr. A. H. Baldwin New York General American Tank Storage Co. Carteret, New Jersey December 22, 1953 Dear Dick: Attached is a copy of Bill Trelease's A & N report on subject company dated December 15, 1953 and I want to call your attention to all of his remarks. I think it advisable to summarize the calls made at this plant and add some additional information. Personal calls have been made at this plant as follows: September 22, 1944; March 30, 1945; July 14, 1947; January 11, 1950; December 22, 1950; January 30, 1952; August, 1953 and December 15, 1953. Our annual A& N letters from this office were sent as follows: October 8, 1948; July 6, 1950; June 1, 1951; July 11, 1952. Safety calendar refills have been given to them regularly since they were first issued. Late Wednesday, December 16th, after Bill Trelease's call on Tuesday, at which time he discussed the potential hazard, Mr. D. J. Sigler, Station Manager, Dowell, Inc. , Upper Montclair, N. J. , phoned this office. He was quite concerned over the exposure he and four other men may have had in this tank. He reported that they had spent two days in the tank with full protective equipment while washing the side walls with an acid compound, They then spent one day in the tank with no protective equipment. We got a reading of 8 micrograms in the tank the second day after Sigler and his men had been in the tank unprotected. Later the same day, Mr. L. B. Wilson of Dowell's New York office called. We arranged for Messrs. Wilson and Sigler to see Dr. Beyer in New York on Friday, December 18th. Dr. Beyer examined Mr. Sigler and told me verbally that there was nothing apparent, however, he arranged for Mr. Sigler and the other four men to return on Tuesday, December 22nd fo: examination and samples. ; The history of this tank will be of interest to our Safety and Medical Depart ments. We do not have the tank cleaning reports in this office yet but the following information, I believe, is essentially correct. This tank was removed from leaded gasoline service several years ago without cleaning and has since-been in fuel oil service. They now want to put it in alcohol service and.called in Dowell Inc. to remove scale and rust from side walls, roof and structural supports by means of their acid wash system. After ilowell completed their portion of the work, General American put a crew of men in the tank without protective equipment to squeegee and mop the bottom. We got to the job after they were approximately half through and took a lead-in-ai sample while they were working. This was the 8 reading mentioned above. Th e work was 2 V stopped, protective equipment obtained and cleaning continued on Friday and Saturday. Lamb air movers were used at this time. When Work stopped on Saturday, a lead-in-air sample gave a reading of between 4 and 6. The foreman stated that the air mover would be left on over the week-end and Bill advised that he would return Monday morning to take another lead-in-iair sample. When Bill arrived Monday morning, he found that the tank had been closed up shortly after he left on Saturday and steam was put in the heating coils. A sample at this time gave a reading of 15 micrograms. By noon or shortly after, with tank open and air mover operating, the reading had dropped to about 5 micrograms. Cleaning and ventillating is still going on at this writing. If anything of further interest develops, a supplementary report will be made. This is of interest in that it seems to prove our belief that storage of unleaded products does not remove a lead hazard and that heating the tank definitely aggravates the lead hazard. Very truly yours, , /s/ A. J. Baldwin A. J. Baldwin A JB:gh Enc. CC: Mr. L. R. Fleck. Dr. K. V. Kitzmiller%| Southern R gion (3) Dr. Kitzmiller's copy has copy of A and N report attached. (ef) The following is a copy of the notes on the A and N report: Un-reported contact made about August, 1953 to see Mr. Dolan); who was absent. Mr. Plattner contacted instead. Mr. Dolan contacted by phone, Supe r intendents of various terminals will act as A & N men. Dowell, Inc. cleaned one tank. Most work done by terminal personnel This is a contact I have made, year after year, on a routine basis, since coming to New Jersey, as Art Roberts did before. Both Mr. Plattner and Mr. Dolan have been furnished with reminder calendars year after yqa-r as well as A.P.I. booklets on tank entry, etc. Today, during the course of a routine call, I learned that a largd tank, 100, 000 bbls. estimated capacity, was just being finished by Dowell, Inc. who had cleaned the tank with acid. The tank had been in varied services including leaded gasoline, fuel oil, methylalcohol, without thorough cleaning. The Dowell foreman told me today, when I arrived just as work was ending for the day, that he did not know the tank had leaded history. His; men had worn gas masks, boots and rubber gloves during acid wash and first water jrinse'. Today they worked without masks. i KE 0017318 The General American Tank Terminal foreman, Mr. O'Donnell, told me hat he had wondered if lead precautions should be followed but, since it /as a contract job, he had not gone into the matter. r`inal clean-up of the tank will be done by General American personnel and we hall be notified in time to observe entry into this tank and another. i. P. I. booklets were left with Mr. O'Donnell and an additional copy with Mf >olan though he had been given one by myself at a previous visit.