Kelvin Hicke has worked with Moose Jaw Co-op as a fuel delivery driver for 34 years and delivered fuel to over 1,400 farms. He’s had a successful career, but it was almost snuffed out as a result of a workplace accident.

Here’s his story.

On Wednesday, July 6, 2005 at 11:45 AM, my life changed forever. I had just filled a 250-gallon tank on a stand, then moved to fill a split compartment 500-gallon tank on a larger stand beside it. I was up on the ladder on the side of the bigger tank in between the two when, just as I finished, the ladder started to fall backward. I realized one support leg holding the 500-gallon tank had broken.

I fell back onto the smaller tank and straight down between the two. Then the 500-gallon tank – all 4,000 pounds of it – fell on me. I was trapped. When the larger tank had fallen, it damaged one of the legs on the smaller tank. As I was lying there pinned and unable to move, in pain, all I could see was the oval 250-gallon tank above me beginning to lean too. There was a puncture hole in the big tank and I was lying in diesel.

I laid there alone for over an hour. Thank God it was mid-day and the farmers who lived there decided to come home for lunch. They saw the desperate situation I was in and immediately came over to help me. Using the tractor to lift the tank off didn't work so they propped up the smaller tank with a fence post and called a tow truck from Caronport and 911.

Once they finally got me pulled out, they left me lying on the gravel before putting me on a spinal board. They didn't know my injuries at that point, and were concerned about spinal damage so they strapped my head to the board very tight to make sure I didn’t move and cause more harm.

I remember the ambulance trip to the Moose Jaw hospital clearly. Every time the ambulance hit a bump my head hurt. It wasn’t till after 6 days later of lying flat on the hospital bed they found my back and head were full of gravel. I think it had stuck to and became embedded in my skin because of how much diesel had spilled. But they couldn’t do anything about it because I had so many broken bones and couldn’t be moved. The tank had fractured my left leg, crushed my pelvis and right wrist and broke seven ribs. I also ended up with a collapsed lung.

From the Moose Jaw hospital, I was transferred to the General Hospital in Regina, and from about 3 to 7 o’clock in the morning the surgeon operated on my arm and leg. Then I laid there for 6 days until July 12 when the orthopaedic surgeon rebuilt my pelvis. I ended up with 22 screws in my pelvis and it was wired together, just like chicken wire. My left leg had a rod from the knee down to my ankle. About a year later, the doctors wanted to amputate my foot because it wasn’t healing. Luckily, they decided to replace the rod that was there with a bigger one so that wasn’t necessary.

By the end of my stay in Regina, I had gone through five surgeries and had to have several blood transfusions because I lost so much blood. After 45 days in the General flat on my back, I came home with a wheelchair and a walker.

I was off work for 18 months. I had to have lots of therapy: home care every day for the first 2 weeks because I couldn’t travel, then treatments at the local hospital – 220 in total. When I was stronger, I went to physio every day for 5 weeks, then spent 11 weeks of full days at a Regina sports and physio clinic. It was only after all that I was able to go back to work part time and eventually full time.

I'm just lucky to be here and am not sure how I made it. I do remember the dog was there at the time of the accident and I was hoping it could go to get help. I never passed out and I remember every moment from when it happened. The funny thing is that the entire time I was just thinking about getting the rest of the fuel delivered.

A lot of people asked why I didn’t jump. That fact is, I couldn’t. One moment I was on the ladder, then I was on the other tank, then on the ground and it came down on top of me.

An Occupational Health and Safety investigation said the leg on the larger fuel tank was cracked and had been welded. Of course, the day I was there filling was the day it decided to break for good.

The truth is that most elevated tanks are not on properly engineered stands. And even if they are, those can break too. If that second tank had gone over, I wouldn’t be here today.

My experience confirms that EVERYONE should have their tanks on the ground. With stand tanks, you don't know. They'll give you no warning when they fail, and they'll fall for no reason. It can happen any time. The ground could be soft and shift from a bit of moisture, or something just gives out. I never knew it was going to collapse or I wouldn’t have gone up there.

This wasn’t the only time either. A few years later another above ground tank went down while I was filling it. Luckily that one fell away and I only suffered minor injuries.

I’m asking you to please consider moving to ground level tanks. Elevated tanks are just not safe. In the blink of an eye that tank leg broke. Think about your hired help, your kids and yourself. Can you afford to be off work for 18 months? Can your family afford for you not to come home?

Ground level tanks are for everyone's safety.

The Moose Jaw Co-op is a people-first organization, and we want to ensure the safety of members and our team. This is why we’re asking fuel customers to consider taking their tanks to the ground.

While some customers choose to invest in ground level tanks, others have simply removed the tank legs and installed a pump. Safety is also why we launched the Fuel Tank Program 5 years ago. We wanted to help growers improve farm safety by making ground level tanks for accessible.

As in Kelvin’s experience, not taking your fuel tanks to the ground could cause serious injury or someone their life.

Moose Jaw Co-op Energy Division
Brandon Andrei – (306) 692-2353

Moose Jaw Co-op Agriculture Division
Wendell Reimer – (306) 692-2353
Mike Heistad – (306) 868-2133