One of the biggest flaws in the OSHA’s and EPA’s process safety standards is their expectations of how contractors are to be evaluated. Yes, of course, hiring contractors with good safety programs and good safety performance is CRITICAL, but way too many facilities are only looking at the safety numbers and programs. And that is NOT good enough! In fact, some states have specific requirements for contractors doing certain types of work, such as piping installation, alteration and repair and we MUST (at least we should) incorporate these state requirements in our “contractor evaluation”. For example, a contractor welding on Ammonia Refrigeration piping in one such state will have some very specific requirements to meet and it would be the owner/operator’s responsibility to ensure they are “qualified” to do the work. For example, this state requires “high pressure piping contractors” to do all Ammoina refrigeration piping work; this is on top of the requirements in ASME B31.5. The state requires the “high pressure piping contractors” to…