Crude, Drilling Mud and Grease: Hand Cleanup in the Field

By the end of a hitch, crude, pipe dope and drilling mud are in every crease of your hands. It is under your nails and ground into your knuckles. The fastest fix on a lot of leases is still a rag soaked in diesel or parts cleaner. It works on the oil. It is hard on the skin under it.

This post is about what oilfield work does to your hands, and how to clean up at the doghouse sink or out on the pad without making things worse.

What the job puts on your skin

OSHA lists hazardous chemicals among the main health hazards in oil and gas extraction. Drilling and servicing use and produce a long list of them. Some are caustic and can cause chemical burns. OSHA also notes that sludge, drilling mud and pipe scale often carry elevated levels of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM).

Your hands are where most of it lands. OSHA says most chemicals are readily absorbed through the skin. That can happen without you noticing. For chemicals that sit on tools, rails and work surfaces, the skin can matter more than the lungs.

Then there is the skin itself. NIOSH says contact dermatitis is the most common work-related skin disease, making up an estimated 90 to 95 percent of cases in the United States. On a rig, the usual triggers are the ones you handle every day: oils, solvents, mud and the harsh cleaners used to get them off.

What to watch for

• Dry, tight skin on the backs of the hands and around the knuckles.
• Cracks at the fingertips and in the folds of the knuckles that sting when you wash.
• Red, itchy or scaly patches that come back every hitch.
• Burning or blistering after a splash. Treat a chemical splash as a chemical exposure, not a dirty-hands problem. Rinse right away and follow the safety data sheet (SDS) for that product.

Cracked skin is more than a comfort problem. It is a gap. Oil, mud and germs get into it, and it is harder to keep clean.

Why diesel and parts cleaner are the wrong soap

A construction-industry physician’s guide from CPWR lists solvents as a cause of both dry skin and irritant contact dermatitis. It lists abrasive cleaners and harsh alkaline soaps too. Solvents dissolve oil, and that includes the natural oils that hold your skin together. Do it every day and the skin’s barrier wears down.

Fuel and solvent also add their own chemicals to the mix. You are trying to get chemicals off your skin. Washing with more of them defeats the point.

The CDC adds a point that matters out here. Hand sanitizer may not work well on visibly dirty or greasy hands, and it may not remove harmful chemicals. Soap and water work better for that. Sanitizer is not a cleanup tool for crude.

Cleaning up at the sink

When you have water, use it. A good wash-up looks like this:

• Wipe off the worst of the oil with a clean rag first.
• Wet your hands and use a pumice hand cleaner. Work it into the knuckles, between the fingers and around the nails.
• Scrub for at least 20 seconds, then rinse well.
• Dry fully with a clean towel. Wet skin cracks faster in wind and cold.
• Wash before you eat, smoke or use the restroom, and before you get in your truck to head home.

We make I.C. Heavy Duty Hand Cleaner for this job. Pumice scrubbers and cleansers strip tar, oil, grease and carbon. It is solvent-free, so there are no hydrocarbon solvents in it, and benzalkonium chloride kills 99.99% of germs. It has a light lemon scent.

On a busy location, the gallon size with a gallon pump at the doghouse or wash trailer saves a lot of half-empty bottles rolling around the floorboard.

Cleaning up with no water

Plenty of pads have no sink, and you are not driving to town to wash before lunch. For those times, use a cleaner made to come off with a towel:

• Wipe off the heavy oil with a rag.
• Rub a waterless cleaner over both hands, working it into the creases.
• Towel it off, and repeat if your hands are still dark.
• Wash with soap and water at the end of the day.

I.C. Antibacterial Waterless Hand Cleaner needs no rinse. Apply, scrub and towel off. Its micro scrubbers lift oil and grime, and benzalkonium chloride kills 99.99% of germs. It is alcohol-free and fragrance free. The single-use foil packets ride in a glove box or a vest pocket.

After the wash

Clean hands still take a beating from wind, sun and the next day of gloves. Put something back on before you rack out. Dermatologists say to put hand cream on right after washing, while the skin is still slightly damp. I.C. Advanced Repair Hand Cream is a dimethicone skin protectant that helps prevent and temporarily protects chafed, chapped or cracked skin.

A few more habits help:

• Wear the gloves your SDS calls for when handling chemicals and mud, and swap out gloves that are soaked through.
• Do not leave oil-soaked clothing against your skin all shift.
• Keep gloved hands off your face.
• If a rash or crack will not settle down after a few days off, see a clinician.

For the rest of the oilfield kit, from sun on the lease to bugs at remote sites, see our oil and gas skin care page.

FAQ

Can I just use hand sanitizer after handling crude?

No. The CDC says sanitizer may not work well on visibly dirty or greasy hands, and it may not remove chemicals. Get the oil off with a hand cleaner first, and wash with soap and water when you can.

Is pumice too rough for everyday use?

Pumice is there for heavy soil. Use it at the end of the job, not every hour. Scrub firmly, not hard, and rinse well. If your skin is raw, ease off and give it a day with a smoother cleaner and hand cream.

What about drilling mud on my skin?

Treat it like any other chemical on skin. Check the SDS for the products in that mud system, wear the gloves it calls for, and wash it off with soap and water as soon as you can. OSHA notes that mud and pipe scale can carry NORM, so wash before you eat or smoke.

Sources

• OSHA, Oil and Gas Extraction: Health Hazards (hazardous chemicals, caustic burns, NORM in sludge, drilling mud and pipe scale): https://www.osha.gov/oil-and-gas-extraction/health-hazards
• OSHA, Dermal Exposure overview (chemicals readily absorbed through the skin): https://www.osha.gov/dermal-exposure
• CDC/NIOSH, Skin Exposures and Effects (contact dermatitis 90 to 95 percent of occupational skin disease): https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/skin-exposure/about/index.html
• CPWR / eLCOSH, Physician’s Alert: Skin Conditions (solvents, abrasive cleaners and alkaline soaps): https://www.elcosh.org/document/62/d000281/Physician%2527s+Alert%253A+Skin+Conditions.html
• CDC, Hand Sanitizer Guidelines and Recommendations: https://www.cdc.gov/clean-hands/about/hand-sanitizer.html
• American Academy of Dermatology, Dry skin relief from handwashing: https://www.aad.org/public/everyday-care/skin-care-basics/dry/coronavirus-handwashing
• R&R Lotion product data: I.C. Heavy Duty Hand Cleaner and I.C. Antibacterial Waterless Hand Cleaner (benzalkonium chloride 0.13%); I.C. Advanced Repair Hand Cream (dimethicone 4.0%).