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Coffee Shop
Greybeard, oil drilling.
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<blockquote data-quote="greybeard" data-source="post: 954244" data-attributes="member: 18945"><p>Yep, it is a dangerous place to work. Texas City was before my time, but anyone who grew up or lived in the 40s knows about it and it's never far from anyone's minds tho that really wasn't a refinery problem. </p><p>Way back when, most folks didn't realize the dangers with benzene. My father went to work at Humble Oil and Refining at Baytown in the late 40s and retired from there after it had changed names to Exxon. He had a mechanic shop in Highlands, and he would bring 1 gallon cans of benzene home to clean parts in, and all us kids cleaned parts for him--with bare hands. He finally switched to Varsol, which probably wasn't much better, but we're all in our 60s-70s now with no ill effects. (Dad passed in '07 at 89 yrs old).</p><p>Our family had toured that plant many times over the decades, and my very first real summer job was with a contractor in that plant. I had a good friend working for another contractor over on the next unit, and I walked over to see him during lunch one day. On the way back, I cut thru the unit and walked under a stream of something leaking from overhead--never saw it, as it was evaporating before it hit the concrete floor. Benzene. I was instantly blinded from pain, wandering around with my eyes burning so bad I couldn't open them. One of the Humble hands saw me, grabbed me and led me over to a big eyewash station/shower and I was ok almost immediately, but of course, they all knew my dad and went and got him. Got my butt chewed out when I got home for being in the middle of an operating unit instead of staying in the contractor's area. I have 2 nephews working there now, and my b-i-l retired from Lubrizol. One of my nephews is a big wheel in safety, and goes all over the world on Exxon's units. I know lots of folks hate Exxon, but it and Humble hold a special place in my family.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="greybeard, post: 954244, member: 18945"] Yep, it is a dangerous place to work. Texas City was before my time, but anyone who grew up or lived in the 40s knows about it and it's never far from anyone's minds tho that really wasn't a refinery problem. Way back when, most folks didn't realize the dangers with benzene. My father went to work at Humble Oil and Refining at Baytown in the late 40s and retired from there after it had changed names to Exxon. He had a mechanic shop in Highlands, and he would bring 1 gallon cans of benzene home to clean parts in, and all us kids cleaned parts for him--with bare hands. He finally switched to Varsol, which probably wasn't much better, but we're all in our 60s-70s now with no ill effects. (Dad passed in '07 at 89 yrs old). Our family had toured that plant many times over the decades, and my very first real summer job was with a contractor in that plant. I had a good friend working for another contractor over on the next unit, and I walked over to see him during lunch one day. On the way back, I cut thru the unit and walked under a stream of something leaking from overhead--never saw it, as it was evaporating before it hit the concrete floor. Benzene. I was instantly blinded from pain, wandering around with my eyes burning so bad I couldn't open them. One of the Humble hands saw me, grabbed me and led me over to a big eyewash station/shower and I was ok almost immediately, but of course, they all knew my dad and went and got him. Got my butt chewed out when I got home for being in the middle of an operating unit instead of staying in the contractor's area. I have 2 nephews working there now, and my b-i-l retired from Lubrizol. One of my nephews is a big wheel in safety, and goes all over the world on Exxon's units. I know lots of folks hate Exxon, but it and Humble hold a special place in my family. [/QUOTE]
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