Document p2kvRyqN0z2Y6QOnBE8eZdKq7

if - Feb, 24* 1940. 0C&FI DRNTI AL *'r. K.C.Beea Baltimore* Fd. Bear Claire# 1 cm submitting herein a report end h isto ry on the recent lead poisoning case a t the Gulf o il Corp. Terminal# Norfolk ?a* The accident occurred while cleaning Tank #11 which ia 25,000 barrel capacity* This tank was spiked with two drums of flu id in Sept. 1952 The emergency blend was made by 'hr* !,. w, Shank using a regular eductor set-up and a t the completion of the addition o f trie lead th e tank was turned over two times for complete circulation* This was the f i r s t cleaning since the spiking in 19?2* Records show th a t a t the time of the spiking the tank had about a 5 inch water bottom and since th a t time i t has varied between 4 and 5 indies* During the week of April 29* 19J9 I contacted th is terminal regarding th e ir tankcleaning program and they thoroly understood th a t wo were to be n o tifie d when th is took place* in May 1959 we were n o tified th a t Jim Baldwin of the N.Y* Division had contacted the Gulf Offices in fhiladelphia and l e f t n o tific atio n cards bearing my name and address g o th a t we might be n o tified of any cleanings done in th is division by the Philadelphia crew* Fr* Houseman of Philadelphia was in c h a r g ^ o f t t i e tonlcleaning and he had two regular employees a Mr* ^ B B and ?.fr* tfHMHHB Five temporary employees were used th re e of tm iei^ rero white and two colored* The names o f the whites w ere^U B B B * B B B R and the colored Olds andi Olds died p rio r to th e time th a t Mr* Lewie was n o tified and wa8 the hospital and s t i l l is* At present core than holdin^niB own and expected to recover* I t is my understanding th a t showed severe load int&xioation while M M f t B B H B f r ^ ^ B W s lw e a a mild case of lead intoxication. The employees were negative* The e n tire medical angle of th is case was handled by Dr* Willard t'achle and additional information on th is phase w ill have to be obtained from him. Fy Investigation disclosed the following tankcleaning proceedure* Pag 2. Gulf case - Norfolk, Va. OOHmBBTIAX. when the manhead was removed th ere was about 4 Inches f water in the bottom of the tank and ?.'r*4 ||^ f l|H H |n te r e d wearing complete safety equi merit including a blower t ^ ^ H r l l n hoa maak. He remained in the tank about an hour and shoveled out p a rt of the sludge throwing th is on th e ground outside of the aanhead. This sludge remained on the ground u n til the following day when i t was buried* The following day the f ir e temporary employees entered the tank wearing th e ir regular clo th es, boots and raincoats* but NO masks* They then washed down the tank with a f ir e hos and forced the rem ining sludg to a sunp where i t was picked up by a centrifugal pump and discharged in to the p i t dug for the burial of th e sludge* The overflow from th is p it covered about 59$ of th e ground inside the firew all with a fine ru sty appearing sediment* Although th e p i t was covered when w arrived the sediment s t i l l remained uncovered on th e ground* This sediment was regarded as a p o ten tial hasard and four hundred pounds of chlorinated lose was sprinkled over same* This was allowed to stand over night, during which w had a f a ir ly heavy ra in , and turned under the next day. Conclusion This accident occurred from gross negligence m the p art of the Gulf Oil Corp* In the f i r s t place both th e local terminal superintendent and the foreman of the Philadelphia crew admitted knowing th a t we should hevo been n o tifie d yet fa ile d to do eo and secondly both p a rtie s know and understood our ru le s and regulations regarding teskeleaning y et disregarded earn* I might also add th a t an enamel warning sign was placed on the aanhead of th is tank* along with four other tanks which had been spiked, in 193*5 and our tankcloaning regulations were posted in the terminal o ffic e I eon assure you th a t th is accident would not have happened had w been n o tified and I had been present to supervise the cleaning* In order to prevent the recurrence of th is tragedy plans are being mad to recontact a ll o il companies sad again review the necessity of notifying us when tankelesninga are to take place so th a t they m&y foe properly supervised* Yours very tr u ly , John 3 Cole*