Best Practices in Gas Detection

IT WAS MID MORNING and the day had started off like any other for the nine men returning from their morning tea break. The air was thick with humidity blowing in from the nearby tropical sea. It was the wet season and the clouds that had been building since early morning looked ready to prove they meant business while thunder could be heard in the distance. The men hurriedly climbed the dockside gangway that would take them back to their work area within the protection of the hull of the ship and out of the oncoming rain. They crossed the still dry main deck of the ship to hold number 3, and one by one entered through the open manhole, climbing down a few meters to the first level and briefly pausing to allow their eyes to adjust to the dim light emanating from below. They had done this hundreds of times in the past. Clambering through dark, dirty, sometimes cramped confined spaces was all part of the day's work for these men; and they got paid well to do it. The men were all employees of a local onsite contractor specializing in repairing fuel systems on bulk carriers and today's task to replace a section of fuel system along a bulkhead near the bottom of one of the holds was going well. The vessel was a bulk crude oil carrier and this hold had contained heavy crude just a few days before coming to the shipyard for maintenance.