Reminiscence-The Tale of the Diesel Oil

In Late 70’s one was posted to a refinery in South Wales. The assignment was the refurbishment of jetty to tank pipelines. One’s duty included survey to each section of pipeline to determine necessary surface preparation etc. In reality it was a total removal of existing coating as it was quicker and overall cheaper than blast to bare steel, sweep blast there, spot blast other parts. The Company was asked by the client if it was possible to use my services to cover part time another project they had started, re-coat of storage tanks.?The Company accepted this request F.O.C. based on building on the good relationship already established. It was decided that I would inspect the surface preparation and carry out final inspection. I recall the coating system was based on M.I.O. silver grey and supplied by a famous name within the UK although not one of the main global brands we know so well today. All went well, Blast inspection was carried out in the afternoon, some 2 hours prior to shift end and worked well within the pipeline duties. Approximately 7 days later final inspection would be carried out. As the schedule commenced on smaller tanks access was easy for visual and DFT checks. As the contractor moved onto larger storage tanks access became more time consuming, cherry pickers were needed for most of the access with the exception of the floating roof.?As the first of these large tanks reached final coating inspection, on this occasion it was requested on a scheduled long weekend Friday for all. Normally leaving after lunch. As no cherry picker driver was available spot inspection had to be carried out by ladder. One therefore aimed for the centre where low DFT’s was recorded. The Supervisor having already left, his foreman decided to take two locals from his team to respray over the weekend.

Returning late Monday morning, driving along the shore line allowed a long view of the refinery and the tank resprayed over the weekend. What stuck out like a sore thumb was that the central rings colour was bright silver grey whilst the remainder was a darker grey. On visiting the tank, one found that the coating was not curing, smooth painted surface with no visible pin holing or other to provide some sort of explanation. The Supervisor who had years of experienced advised that we should leave it a little longer due to the sea air affecting the overall coating application!!!! Nevertheless, he would recoat the darker areas of the tank when applying the finish coat the next tank to be coated. So, the next tank’s surface preparation was put forward and passed inspection, but this time instead of returning to the pipeline one sat on the other side of the embankment and watched the mixing. What was not a surprise, that when it came to adding thinner to the paint mix, diesel was taken from the fuel bowser, filled empty thinner cans and then used within the paint mix.

The following day one visited the area and after discussions a cross cut test was carried out and obviously the applied coat of paint detached too easily whilst providing the strong smell of diesel oil. Reporting back to one's piers the paint manufacturer was invited to visit site. Similar testing was carried out by them on the previous coated finding that the total coating system including of course the bright silver on the middle rings detached from bottom to the top in one easy pull as like pealing wet wallpaper.

The client on advice of the paint manufacture decided to leave the coating system as applied expecting it to fail after one winter. The contractor lost his license to work at the refinery after waiting for approval some five years. Tank coatings stopped that year and would go out for tender again the following year. As for the reason to use diesel. The Contractor gave their Supervisor GBP100 per week to purchase local solvent, he spent it in the Pub (Bar).

It was the last time to my knowledge that my Company accepted extra work without supplying full time inspection. Although I have never come across such a situation again many times have been called to sites due to paint suffering from pin holing, sagging etc. without a solution just to find that the painting contractor is using the wrong thinner or in fact using gun cleaner.?I have always, and as many specifications require, that paint makers representative is present to assure proper mixing and application takes place. One recalls even in the late 90’s Paint Maker’s Technical Services leaving the work front right after surface preparation acceptance. One recalls on one occasion after joining an owner's site team due to poor painting practices such as WBT cracked coating system within NB Chemical Tankers, one witnessed mixing inadequacies and application overthickens on block work. The builder suppling QA and relying on the paint maker to carry out QC and provide warranties.?Discussion with the Paint Maker brought to site one of their senior technical services representatives. It took the removal of this person to recover the quality control after he was found to be leaving site straight after myself and before mixing and application started.

All the training, examinations, and experience is insufficient if the person(s) is not attentive in their duties and responsibilities.?