On January 27, 2019, 12 employees needed transport to nearby hospitals after a a release of 2,100 pounds of anhydrous ammonia. OSHA cited the facility for failing to: Equip an ammonia refrigeration system with a pressure relief device as referenced by the manufacturer’s operating manual; Train technicians to use an alternative over-pressure safety procedure to…...
OSHA has cited a container cleaning business for exposing employees to confined space hazards after two employees were fatally overcome by fumes while cleaning a tank trailer. The company faces $497,920 in penalties. OSHA investigators determined that one employee became unresponsive after entering the trailer’s confined space. After a non-entry retrieval system used to rescue…...
Nitrogen… an often misunderstood SAFETY gas that many fear and for good reason! Imagine you have a flammable liquid that has a Flash-PointP<100°F and you worry about static or other ignition sources causing an event inside your storage container… what can I do to lessen the risk of a fire/explosion in the headspace of my…...
One of the most requested slide deck over the years has been from my 5-Day RAGAGEP course, specific to ASME B31.5, Refrigeration Piping and Heat Transfer Components. The PowerPoint file below is only 12 slides from a 300 slide presentation, but the requirements noted in these 12 slides are often not understood at the plant…...
I spent several years working at semi-conductor facilities (the Cincinnati SUMCO plant was one of the finest!) and it was world’s apart from a chemical facility. When I worked in chemical plants we always used to say… “this ain’t no chocolate factory”. But when I arrived at SUMCO I swear it was cleaner than any…...
Does your business allow workers to carry their personal lighters in their pockets? In my word of Flammable Liquids and Gases (FLAGs) and HAZ MATs we never allowed people to have lighters on them while on our property – some companies do not even allow them in parking lots. In most of my plants, our…...
7/8/20 UPDATE: this LOI was NOT removed from the OSHA website; it was merely MOVED to the Year 2017 LOI Page (Linked Below). The letter was MOVED without any changes to its content – it was just moved to its proper year. This was merely a recordkeeping move by OSHA to reflect the year the…...
Respondent is a cooperative with two (2) facilities that store ammonia. On June 26th and September 6, 2012, EPA conducted inspections of the facilities to determine the Respondent’s compliance with the Risk Management Program 2 Prevention Program requirements. The inspections confirmed that the facilities had more than a threshold amount of anhydrous ammonia. Facility #1…...
Over the past several years, I have attempted to convince the SAFTENG members that an Evaporative Condenser in an Ammonia refrigeration process is indeed a Permit-Required Confined Space. Earlier this year, the IIAR published one of my articles on this topic, hoping to educate the industry about this life safety topic. I think we have…...
NOT only was this worker welding, but he/she had also used a flammable liquid to clean the spot they wanted to weld and then kept the OPEN bucket of flammable liquid right at the point of work. When they struck the arc, the vapors in the bucket ignited and the worker kicked the bucket of…...
At 5:48 a.m. on November 5, 2019, an employee was working for a trucking firm that hauled refined fuel products. He was pumping fuel from a portable tank back into his tanker truck by top-loading (e.g. SPLASH FILLING). The fuel involved was a mixture of gasoline and diesel fuel (both NON-conductive flammable liquids). The employee…...
At 12:00 p.m. on November 5, 2019, Employee #1 was making a small spot weld on a piece of metal. He was performing the weld on a drum that contained windshield washer fluid, a CATEGORY 3 Flammable Liquid. There was an explosion, and the drum hit the employee’s face. Liquid splashed on the employee and…...
