What Nasty Stuff do You Work With?

[Diesel Freak]

What nasty stuff/chemicals do you encounter at work?



check out this list of nasties I have to watch out for.



Tungsten Hexafluoride (WF6)

Silane (SiH4)

Nitrogen Trifluoride (NF3)

Aqueous HF (Hydrofluoric Acid)

Germanium

Arsenic

Phosphine (PH3)

Arsine (AsH3)

Hydrogen Bromide (HBr)

Hydrochloric Acid (HCl)



and some real nasty mixtures of crap that pH out at close to 0.



I really hate being in full acid gear and forced air ventilation (SCBA), but it saves my butt!

 

[illflem]

Boy, being a Full time Skirt Chaser sure has changed since I did it.

I only get to work with Agricultural pesticides.

 

[Diesel Freak]

Still a Full Time Skirt Chaser.





Just a part time Semiconductor Vacuum and Process Abatement Technician.

 

[DieselDoghouse]

As an undergraduate working on the college livestock farm I got to bathe almost daily in pentachlorophenol (wood preservative) and the next year they decided it was a carcinogen...



Doing research in a lab was much safer. The glutaraldehyde fixative only gave you diarrhea if you drank alot of it (kidding!). But for electron microscopy we added a step with Osmium Tetroxide - and THAT stuff could fix your corneas if it wandered out of the fume hood - YE HA!!



And the parasites we worked on - H*ll, we got drugs fer them!!

 

[The patriot]

Pentane and styrene, but mostly just boiler chemicals.

Eric

 

[Charley]

Benzene & H2S.



Charley

 

[Hummin Cummins]

Main Job:

Chlorine

Sulfur Dioxide

Human POOP

Used Condoms

Used female stuff



Second Job:

Agricultural Pesticides

Anhydrous Ammonia

Amish Farmers

 

[JHansen]

Like Charley, I get to work around small amounts of H2S and benzene. Also get the privilege of dealing with xylene and toluene, as well as varying proprietary blends of chemicals used for wax inhibition, scale inhibition, demulsification, and asphaltene dispersion. Oh yeah-and methanol-almost forgot about that one as it's so commonly used up here in the oilfield that you tend to forget how nasty it is.



Jason

 

[Briar Hopper]

Thanks to a particularly careless management team that was only concerned with the bottom dollar, I spent 3 horrible years at a Johnson Controls factory on the maintenance team, doing 100 hour weeks, and getting over-exposed to toluene di-isocyanate, a catalyst used along with polyol compounds to manufacture foam car seats. TDI is highly carcinogenic. By the time you smell it, you're already over-exposed to it. I smelled it every day. This particular factory got hit with several million in OSHA fines, but nothing changed until a new management team was brought in(long after I left). (Rick the Prick, I sincerely hope you are part of the management team when Johnson Controls opens a factory in Afghanistan, or Somalia, or Bosnia ! )

The total disregard for our safety in that factory was unreal. It would take me two hours to tell the whole story, it was that bad. The turnover rate in personnel was over 200%, in maintenance it was more than that. At the time I walked out after 3 years, I was one of the last three of the original 30 maintenance team members hired at the startup of the plant.

I was extremely fortunate in getting hired by 3M , the working conditions are much cleaner and safety is STRICTLY enforced. Very few toxic chemicals or processes in use in this factory, anyway.

 

[M Barnett]

Fresh whole milk.

Michael

 

[Shovelhead]

The methane emissions from my co-worker who will walk 2 miles in the field, then sit in the truck, close the door, and "Blast one":-{} :{

 

[Sregorb]

One that is nastier than most others... ... politics.



Brian

 

[Champane Flight]

Lets see

I work with our NGL line which carries methane, benzene, toluene, and about every other ene or ane known to man. But , Sregorb has us ALL beat... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .

 

[nickleinonen]

people that don't know how to use a tv remote

 

[paccool]

Used to work around Carbon Techtracloride (Used it in the service to make rubber mats shine), boiling freon to calibrate thermometers(no respirator), wood dust, PVC fumes, MEKP, MEK, Acetone/solvents, and asbestos. I once used acetone to flush MEKP out of my eyes, that was a real trip!



Now I don't handle that stuff much but work around cooling towers- that where Legionaires disease lives. Had it a couple of times, like a real bad cold for most people.



H2S and arsenic are also a problem at times in the Geothermal plants and refineries we go into.



Stan

 

[rubberneck]

NURSES



Nothing like an ICU ward full of estrogen and PMS :--)

 

[Evan A. Beck]

Duramaxes and PowerStrokes.

 

[High Voltage]

Let's see...



4160, 12000, 34. 500, 69000, volts and the WIFE

 

[ZEEEW]

Quit the zirconium potassium perchlorate explosives job last year, tired of wearing the full flash suit all day, and constant earplugs were hurting my ears. Blowing the machines up each once in a while was cool though.

Now just the usual maintenance chemicals, and have been helping with cropdusting chemicals at the airport, (or the closest road to the fields). Cool watching the plane work.



Eric

 

[JR2]

Well working on an oil rig is one of the more hazardous jobs around, however I just sit in my little room with the computers and look out the window... . I do have to use nuclear sources in my job (Cesium 137 and Americium Beryllium 241) and then there is the weather



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This was taken today at 10:30 am on June 23 and its snowing hard.



And there is always the wild life



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That is a young small polar bear that hung around for a few days about a week ago. .