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I worked a pricey wreck today
shilowar
Member Posts: 38,815 ✭✭✭
So I arrived at a motor vehicle collision, car vs pole. This lady while looking down at her car stereo went straight instead of left as she should have into a pole. The pole flexed under the weight of holding two transformers and snapped off at about the 20 foot mark. The two transformers blew apart when they hit the ground and caused a spill of oil containing PCBs that went straight into a storm drain and then creek about 300 yards away. Major HAZMAT mess. Between the phone company, power company, Fire Dept and the private contractor that will all be out there in excess of 12 hours cleaning this up they were saying her bill will top $150K for this clean up. [:0] Hope she doesn't have the minimum coverage.
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I thought all those line transformers had the PCB based oils removed years ago?
Dunno, just going off what they said. The transformers were old, had no markings and the Power Co said they couldn't tell what the fluid was. They were confident it was not mineral oil as they are using now. So they are proceeding as though it is PCBs.
PCBs or not she's gonna be billed for them.
If so,somebody got some splainin to do.....
So if that is what she has, the state will be after her for over a hundred grand. Of course that depends on whether she has any assets or not. Can't get blood from a turnip.
but like most truckers can attest , many loads of goods are well over .
where I use to work we would ship trailer loads of parts , engines and transmissions to the frame plant and trailer loaded with new cars from there it does not take much to eat up a insurance policy if you count the truck trailer and contents
may sound high
but like most truckers can attest , many loads of goods are well over .
where I use to work we would ship trailer loads of parts , engines and transmissions to the frame plant and trailer loaded with new cars from there it does not take much to eat up a insurance policy if you count the truck trailer and contents
Trucks carry a minimum of $750,000 liability and a large percentage carry $1,000,000. That is just liabilty and lawyers know it which is why everyone sues truckin companies regardless of fault. Cargo insurance, not supposed to carry freight valued higher than the insurance, when I was with T-Car I hauled tons of Compaq computers, high value loads that required tons of signatures to pick up along with truck tracking and desinated routes. Also could not leave the truck unattended or stop within the first 150 miles of loading. Most of the rules were carrier rules but Compaq had several to follow as well.
As far as the wreck in the OP, just blame a truck, thats what everyone else does [B)]
Nope, no truck involved...just a car and a utility pole with some expensive stuff attached to it. I tell you what, there are some angry restaurant owners because they have no power tonight.
If she was smart she would have blamed a truck and got away with it because if a car driver mentions truck it becomes an open and shut investigation. Trucks are killers and do not belong on the roads with the innocent public, you know that officer sir.
Right along with trigger happy donut eating jackbooted cops.
It worked out well for Ole Lavoy. [;)]
Do we Have a Conflict Here[;)]
Boys Boys
Do we Have a Conflict Here[;)]
It's all good, ol Shilo doesnt take me serious [:D]
PCB's have been banned in Transformers since 1979 and in 1983 they begin to remove transformers with PCB's and replacing them. The old ones were usually an olive green or black in color and the replacements are tan or an off white.
You can still find a few old transformers around here in hard to reach area (up rough hollows) . But they are all in places where the houses has been abandoned before the retrofitting began.
Sounds like some scamming going on between the HAZMAT people and the private contractor.
quote:... two transformers blew apart when they hit the ground and caused a spill of oil containing PCBs...
PCB's have been banned in Transformers since 1979 and in 1983 they begin to remove transformers with PCB's and replacing them. The old ones were usually an olive green or black in color and the replacements are tan or an off white.
You can still find a few old transformers around here in hard to reach area (up rough hollows) . But they are all in places where the houses has been abandoned before the retrofitting began.
Sounds like some scamming going on between the HAZMAT people and the private contractor.
That was the point I got ignored on.
I totally agree with you.
Well I hope she found her radio station,,[:0][:0]
She was probably texting [;)], thought if she said she was looking at the stereo she'd somehow get a free pass [:D]
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
Sounds like some scamming going on between the HAZMAT people and the private contractor.
It is funny how folks here always assume the worst, that government officials are out to take advantage. For clarification purposes let me state that my job there had nothing to do with any of the hazard, clean up etc. I worked the wreck and the Fire Dept has command of the scene itself. Once the Power Co was unable to identify what fluid that spilled that Fire Dept by their rules and best practices are required to treat it as the most dangerous of the potential fluids used in transformers by their HAZMAT book. Had the Power Co. Supervisor that was on scene said "oh yeah it is mineral oil, serviced in on such and such date" they'd have soaked it up with stay dry and we have left. The Fire Commander that was on scene has no vested interest in whether a major clean up was done, in fact his day would have been much less stressful had it not been a HAZMAT incident.
So I saw no evidence of any collusion or attempt to perpetrate fraud. This lady caused a huge mess and by the nature of the damage. That utility pole with the two transformers probably cost well over $60K to replace on its own, along with the 6 or so downed power lines, plus phone lines and cable lines.
quote:... two transformers blew apart when they hit the ground and caused a spill of oil containing PCBs...
PCB's have been banned in Transformers since 1979 and in 1983 they begin to remove transformers with PCB's and replacing them. The old ones were usually an olive green or black in color and the replacements are tan or an off white.
You can still find a few old transformers around here in hard to reach area (up rough hollows) . But they are all in places where the houses has been abandoned before the retrofitting began.
Sounds like some scamming going on between the HAZMAT people and the private contractor.
AEP had several on their bosses there and we were unable to tell what had been in those transformers, and could not say they didn't contain PCBs so that tells me that their must be quite a few transformers still out there that contain that stuff. Otherwise they'd have said we don't used PCBs anymore, and that grey one doesn't contain it. If it isn't PCBs it is probably still toxic to the environment.