This is a lesson in why “Unloading” any hazardous material is such a high-risk task. In this incident, the facility had their connections locked (but the driver was told the combination), they were using the driver’s procedure, the connections were properly labeled, the driver could not see the tank he was pumping to, the company dock attendant who was supposed to be involved was too busy that day, etc. etc. And the planets were aligned at the time of this event as well!
(emphasis by me)
At approximately 10:15 a.m. on May 30, 2012, Employee #1, a 46-year-old truck driver was making a ROUTINE DELIVERY of sanitation chemicals to a milk packaging plant. This facility purchases its sanitation chemicals through Ecolab. The chemicals are delivery by a local chemical trucking company. Employee #1 delivered the chemicals to “milk-loading dock #2” where the chemicals are pumped through receiving pipes located on the south wall the loading dock. The pipes lead to three (3) large tanks located in the Clean-In-Place (CIP) room located adjacent to the dock.
The multi-compartment tanker truck was loaded with two (2) different chemicals:
- AC-55-5 (nitric and phosphoric acid blend) and
- AC-103 (sodium hydroxide)