The day before Thanksgiving a driver was killed (may he RIP) when he entered the cargo hold of his box truck to”investigate a leak”. As can be seen in the video below, the delivery truck was an enclosed box truck, rather than the style of truck typically used to transport gas cylinders as shown below.
I am NOT sure of the arrangement in the back of this specific delivery truck, but it sounds as if it was dual purpose: 1) can offload liquid CO2 into a fixed liquid CO2 storage system and 2) deliver Dewars and/or Cylinders of CO2.
But witnesses stated this incident was most not likely caused by a leaking cylinder/container inside the truck but may have been a “drive-off” incident as witnesses reported seeing a hose whipping around the outside of the truck as the truck was pulling away. The driver stopped, opened the back of his truck and witnesses reported seeing the “smoke roll out” (e.g. the “smoke” was condensed water vapor which most calls a “cloud”). We are not sure why, but the door to the cargo area closed behind the driver as he entered. As the video shows us, the leak was significant and inside an unventilated cargo hold area of a box truck, the atmosphere could become dangerous quickly, especially with a HAMZAT such as CO2. One customer attempted to help the driver but was unable to enter the back of the truck. Some facts about CO2…