World-class safety can be summed up in this manner…
The ability to recognize a serious hazard that can be controlled by an existing safe work practice that is in place for complying with a different OSHA standard.
If you’re a process safety engineer/practitioner you have dealt with “line break/process opening” for your Highly Hazardous Chemicals (HHC) and Extremely Hazardous Substances (EHS) within your “covered process(s)”. Truly world-class organizations have adopted their “line break/process opening safe work practices to “steam” as well. Heck some clients have even adopted the practice to manage even their “hot water”. Line Break and Process Opening is a LAYER of protection on top of the traditional LOTO practices.
In this OSHRC decision, two maintenance workers lost their lives when a feather rendering machine became plugged and an attempt to bleed off the steam was done by loosening some bolts on a flange. Take notice that they had closes the steam supply valve – the steam was a “stored energy”. The flange failed and the two workers died from their burns.