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Dirty Work: Oil Tank Cleaner
Slogging Through Sludge: Cleaning Oil Tanks in 100-Degree Heat
 Listen to David Molpus' report on oil tank cleaners.
 Back to the Dirty Work series
Aug. 1, 2002 -- They are jobs nobody would seem to want -- but somebody has to do them. In the first installment of Morning Edition's "dirty work" series, NPR's David Molpus profiles one of the dirtiest -- and hottest -- jobs around: cleaning the inside of oil storage tanks.
Molpus traveled to LaPorte, Texas, where workers for Onyx Industrial Services demonstrated the cleaning process in a practice tank. (Worker safety rules prohibit him from going to a real one.) The boxcar container -- called a "baker tank" -- is sometimes used for storage and is much smaller than the giant oil tanks where this dirty job is done. Those tanks are up to 230 feet in diameter and 30 feet high.
The sludge caked on the inside tank walls and floor is initially three to four feet thick. Much of the cleaning these days is done from outside the tank with high-pressure fire hoses pouring water and/or chemicals from outside portal holes.
Amos Eedroga has been in hazardous waste removal for 23 years. He says that when he started, men had to enter the tanks with several feet of sludge still on the bottom. "You would be up to your knees" in it and have to "work your way out... bucket it up, store it somewhere." Now, by the time the workers enter, the muck is down to about four inches thick, which they then wash out with hoses and push out with squeegee mops.
Still it's no cakewalk. Often the temperature inside the tanks is 100 degrees -- or higher. Making it feel even hotter: the workers are suited up head to toe in protective gear: hard hats, full facemasks, earplugs, rubber gloves and rubber boots, and a special suit covering.
It's so hot that sometimes they can work only 15 minutes at a time before coming out to rest and cool off. Aware of the danger of heat exhaustion, the workers operate on a "buddy system" to make sure no one is overdoing it and about to collapse. They have a safety checklist to complete before going in.
The workers have to be in shape to squeeze through the portals to get in and out of the tanks, while wearing all that gear. (It also includes an air hose line and a five-minute supply of bottled oxygen). Their biggest nightmare is running into heavy rust scale when the chemicals they use won't break it down. The tanks have to be ventilated using a big generator-powered fan because of the noxious air inside.
Perry Nolan, a manager and former oil tank cleaner, says removing the toxic sludge is like "trying to get a dead dinosaur out of a tank... You have to find it, get it out and don't get anybody exposed to it."
Despite the baking heat and the danger, the workers tell Molpus that they take pleasure in what they do. "It's a rush -- working with my hands," tank cleaner Charles Reeves says. He says he likes it because it's more demanding than any job he's ever had.
Darrell Harris says the crews get excited about the challenge and can sit back afterwards and say "we kicked that tank's butt" today.
In coming weeks, the "dirty work" series, airing Thursdays on Morning Edition, will look at fish-gutters on the "slime line" in Alaska, estate movers in San Diego, sewer inspectors in Cincinnati and hospital laundry workers in New York City. And, on the white-collar side of "dirty work," there's a story from North Carolina about consultants who specialize in firing people.
In Depth
Listen to a Morning Edition report from Tokyo on the practice of hiring someone else to do your dirty work. March 25, 2002.
Other Resources
• Onyx Industrial Services tank cleaning Web site
• How To Tell When You're Tired: A Brief Examination of Work by Reg Theriault, published by W. W. Norton & Co.
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