Once upon a time there were three fairly little pigs
named Rusty, Dusty and Musty who set out to make their individual ways in
the world. Having grown up around a rather large watering trough,
each decided to go into the recreational diving business.
Rusty established a small neighborhood dive store and
was happy in his work because ignorance is bliss (or so we are told).
Rusty was a good friend to his customers and told lots of sea stories.
Dusty, on the other hand, preferred warm weather so he opened a resort
diving facility. It was busy, busy work, with multiple cylinders
filled repeatedly day after day and always stored aboard ship on the salty
sea basking in the tropical sun. Brother Musty had a head for
business. His basic principle was to avoid any government
interference and grow fast by giving his customers what they wanted
including, fast fill air service, extra pressure, a cooling bath for even
more extra pressure and quick, cheap cylinder inspections.
One day a wolf came along dressed in sheep's clothing
carrying a magical bag of tricks. The very special bag contained
corrosion, dents, bulges, heat, gouges, water, metal fatigue and other
things too terrible to mention. His intent was to do Rusty, Dusty
and Musty great harm. Posing as a valued customer, the wolf spread
contents from his magical bag at each pig's diving business then sat back
to await the inevitable.
Cylinders, powerful as bombs, at Dusty's resort
deteriorated quickly from corrosion and water because no one was trained
and assigned to ensure a frequent technical inspection. One cylinder
exploded aboard a boat full of guests. Neither they nor their
friends returned to Dusty's resort. All too soon Dusty was on the
street out of business, just where the wolf wanted him.
Musty's store was very popular because of all the
customer perks he provided, especially the extra air received during fast
fills in the cooling water bucket. But, while filling one of his
rental cylinders, it exploded. The water bucket, the water, Musty,
and the side of the building all landed in the parking lot among the
damaged cars of his customers and that was just where the wolf wanted him.
Rusty took notice of his brothers' plight and
concluded that ignorance may not be bliss after all. Rusty quickly
learned there was much more to high-pressure cylinder safety than he had
realized. Also, there were many resources available for ensuring
cylinder safety at his place of business. Rusty's entire staff took
cylinder handler and fill station operator HAZMAT training. Notices
were posted about safety concerns that must be address before each
cylinder was filled. Sometimes it was a challenge for Rusty to
educate his customers to the importance of cylinder safety so their
cylinders would not explode and harm their loved ones. However, when
DOT, OSHA, fire marshals and other officials came to inspect Rusty's
business for employee safety compliance, they were all pleased and assured
Rusty that his cylinder safety awareness program would surely keep the
wolf from his door.
And of course, Rusty (and all of his customers) lived
happily ever after.