Nick Smith | Williston Herald Charlie Morecraft speaks to a crowd at Williston State College Tuesday evening about the importance of following safety procedures at the workplace. He told the crowd of about 100 people a vivid story of the near-fatal accident he had at an Exxon oil refinery in New Jersey over 20 years ago. He urged those in attendance to be safe for not only themselves but for the sake of their loved ones as well.
Former Exxon employee Charlie Morecraft told a crowd of nearly 100 area workers at Williston State College Monday evening that this mindset isn't true.
"Safety's personal," said Morecraft.
He was involved in a workplace accident at an oil refinery in New Jersey over 20 years ago that nearly cost him his life. Morecraft visited Williston to share his story and to spread the message of taking proper safety precautions at the workplace.
"For the first 15 of my 27 years at Exxon, I felt the same way most people feel about safety. It couldn't happen to me, it happens to the other guy; safety was no big deal," said Morecraft. That was until one August night over 20 years ago when he was working the late shift at the Bayray Refinery in Linden, N.J., "the one you see in the background in the opening credits on The Sopranos," said Morecraft.
Morecraft was working when he got a call to go to another part of the facility to work on a manifold and pull out a blank. He said there were certain procedures to follow to prevent leaks or accidents, but that night he decided to use a shortcut.
"It was something I'd done a thousand times before," said Morecraft.
He began to pull out the blank and there was a slight leak and then some more leaking. Morecraft thought nothing of it, and when he thought it was done leaking, he gave the blank a tug and pulled it out.
"But from somewhere deep in that pipe a gush came, smacked me right in the face," said Morecraft.
Morecraft wasn't wearing safety goggles, so it took him more than a minute to clear his eyes.
He ran to a safety shower when he ran past his truck, which was running. This was another violation of procedure because it could ignite vapors coming from the manifold, and it did.
"I saw the vapor heading towards the truck, I saw it hit the truck, and it all just blew up, and I blew with it," said Morecraft.
With a burst of adrenaline, he ran to a puddle of water while on fire, then he tried to battle the blaze until help arrived.
Morecraft said the pain was indescribable as he was taken to the hospital, with burns over nearly 50 percent of his body. The clothes were blown off his back by the force of the blast.
"You know that pain when you get a burn on the tip of your finger from a lighter or burn yourself with a match? Imagine that over 45, 50 percent of your body. My arms were black and like charcoal, swelling and blistering as I looked at myself in that ambulance," said Morecraft.
Morecraft went into cardiac arrest that night and nearly died. The only reason he lived is because the one thing he did do was wear fire-retardant clothing.
After months of excruciatingly painful days of being dunked in a tank of water, chloride and antibiotics in a hospital burn ward, he eventually moved to another floor of the hospital to begin getting skin grafts and reconstructive surgery.
It took him five years to recuperate, with skin grafts, cosmetic surgery and therapy. All in all, he had between 20 and 30 surgeries.
"I've had more surgeries than Joan Rivers. All this, is new," he said, pointing to his face.
"My eye, I can see out of it, but reconstruction had to be done around it. My nose, my mouth, they had to do a lot of work on my jaw," said Morecraft.
Morecraft wishes to this day that he had the right attitude and just followed procedure.
He didn't like the way safety goggles felt and looked on him.
He didn't like following other safety procedures either, thinking he'd look "like a wimp" in front of the other guys.
"You have any idea how many times I look in the mirror and have to look at these scars and say why?" asked Morecraft.
Morecraft said the injured person's family members also are victims of accidents such as his. He eventually lost his marriage over it, because of how he handled it.
He said his two daughters, ages 13 and 10 at the time, were impacted deeply as well. His oldest daughter's grades slipped, then she attempted suicide. His younger daughter at one point went into therapy. Both were "as a direct result of my accident."
He said the worst part of what happened wasn't the surgery, the incredible pain or the scars.
"The worst part was missing five years of my girls growing up," said Morecraft.
Morecraft said speaking engagements, which he has been doing for nearly 16 years now, are important to him. If he makes even the slightest impact on anyone, then he's done his job, because he's incredibly lucky to be alive to tell the story.
"Safety's about going home at the end of the night and being able to kiss your wife, hug your children and say you love them. You can't afford to have accidents like this and your families can't afford to have them either," he said.
Morecraft has spoken to companies and groups in all 50 states and on every continent except Antarctica.
For more information or to make an inquiry for a speaking engagement, visit www.charliemorecraft.com.
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