At 2:00 p.m. on May 27, 2019, an employee, 19, was preparing to transfer anhydrous ammonia (NH3) from a bulk storage container to a customer-owned double nurse tank. The employee, who was NOT wearing any PPE, opened a valve on the nurse tank before attaching the transfer hoses, causing pressurized NH3 to be released directly […]
At 6:05 p.m. on March 3, 2021, an employee, 27, was clearing jammed mulch from a mulch coloring machine. The employee disconnected the power from the machine, entered the hopper, and began removing mulch. The employee exited the hopper, restored power, and restarted the machine. The employee reentered the machine a second time WITHOUT DISCONNECTING
At 11:00 a.m. on June 8, 2021, Employee #1 washed the inside of a tanker to clear chemical residue from the inside of the tanker. At some point, Employee #1 lost consciousness and was found by Employee #2, who attempted to rescue Employee # 1 from the tanker. A coworker heard Employee #2 in distress
At 7:15 a.m. on June 18, 2021, an employee was working as a maintenance technician for a firm that provided maintenance and repair services for land-based and airborne gas turbine engines for civilian and military clients. He and other workers in the maintenance department were replacing metal bars at the bottom of a pit furnace,
Anyone who works at a processing facility that has PRCSs with agitators will always fear this happening, yet this is a SIMPLE FAILURE of LOTO and should never happen. I can probably count a dozen incidents where I have seen this happen with lesser consequences. At 11:15 a.m. on July 17, 2021, an employee was
OSHA standards were usually written after a day like this! (emphasis by me) 1910.36(h) An OUTDOOR exit route is permitted. 1910.36(h)(1) The outdoor exit route must have guardrails to protect unenclosed sides if a fall hazard exists; 1910.36(h)(2) The outdoor exit route must be covered if snow or ice is likely to accumulate along the
WA-OSHA standards were revised a number of years ago, so they are in “plain English.” These are a GREAT SOURCE of information for anyone looking for a straight forward explanation of OSHA standard requirements. One particular standard that I found helpful was its Hazardous Location (HAZLOC) explanations. These hazardous locations are classified as follows:
Another excellent video of how world-class people respond to a workplace tragedy. We will all suffer such an event if we stay in this profession long enough. But hopefully, you will be surrounded by real leaders who rise to the occasion and LEAD, as leadership is the ONLY way out of such a tragedy. You
OSHA answers five (5) questions regarding the relatively new standard, 1910.28 Duty to have fall protection and falling object protection. And I have to admit I found a couple of their answers interesting. Question 1: 29 CFR ยง 1910.28(b)(9) requires fixed ladders (installed on or after November 19, 2018) that are more than 24 feet
I have been validated! I have received so many nasty grams from folks regarding my position on the ASSUMED PAPR Assigned Protection Factor of 1,000 which I wrote about in several postings going all the way back to 2015 of which this was my first attempt to educate and warn others of some flawed practices:
Seriously, in the year 2021/2022, we still have these questions asked of OSHA about a standard that has been in place since the mid-1980s. Scenario 1: Three (3) authorized employees are working on a pump. Each energy source is de-energized and locked out by an employee in plant operations. Then, the plant operations employee places
OSHA once again clarifies that locking out the air source to a pneumatically powered control valve is NOT locking the energy isolation device! When I taught at ASSP Seminarfest several years ago, the most disputed point was this very practice. I was very clear, which did not sit well with some attendees, that locking the
