Let It Burn
About 13 years ago, I worked at a Saskatchewan oil patch. I was on the last day of my seven-day hitch, and about 13 hours in. I hadn’t been sleeping much as I had lots of personal stuff going on. At some point, I got complacent—I’d been doing the same run for over two years and I knew each location and tank by heart, from which ones were finicky to which ones were likely to sand off, etc.
I was looking forward to my days off as my parents were on their way to visit me for their anniversary. My brain fell out of my head for two seconds, but that’s all it took for disaster to strike. I ended up pulling my hose off the valve without closing it first. Keep in mind, in Saskatchewan, they heat their tanks to help with the water and oil separation…
So I got doused in 160-degree water through a four-inch hole in the side of the tank. They had also just chemically treated the tank with defoamer, so the burns were partially chemical as well. I went to the local hospital where I was given a prescription for Tylenol 3 and a sick note for four days off work. When I went to another hospital nearer to where I lived (about an hour away), they told me I’d be off for at least two months.
It was too late for skin grafts, but I got lucky. I came away with one barely visible scar and, well, my life.