Last year we saw the state of California implement their “PSM for Refineries” standard and now the state of Washington’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health is releasing draft language for a new chapter that will ONLY apply to Process Safety Management (PSM) for petrochemical refining facilities. This Process Safety Management rulemaking is in the…...
Here is some good ole sound advice on relief valves from our friends to the north (Technical Standards & Safety Authority). These are some good basic rules to follow, regardless of what country your pressure vessel operates. … Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in here...
Case #1 At 10:15 a.m. on February 12, 2015, an employee was working from the elevated basket of a manlift, installing sheetrock in an area of the job site where water piping was undergoing pneumatic testing, at 130 psi. At the same time, another contractor was performing a compressed air leak test. An 80-pound section…...
On June 29, 2005, Employee #1 was involved in the following the maintenance activities in the Chloropyridines Complex at the employer’s chemical manufacturing facility. Employee #1 was returning a reactor vessel to service. He was attempting to do a pressure and leak test using chlorine gas. The pipe was supposed to be pressure tested with…...
It is 24 years after OSHA promulgated it’s Permit-Required Confined Space standard and then in 2015 OSHA promulgated their Confined Spaces in Construction standard and yet we continue to see more “would-be rescuers” dying in Permit-Required Confined Spaces as do actual “entrants”. We can only hope that one-day worker training and awareness will end the “would-be…...
I am not quite sure why they did this, but the ICC decided that the requirements for “leak detection” and “emergency shutoff” for high hazard gases and liquids ONLY apply when the “maximum allowable quantity per control” area is exceeded. This was done by moving these requirements from Section 5003 where they applied to any quantity…...
Due to the potential environmental impact, there has been a shift to consider use of natural refrigerants, which have a lower Global Warming Potential (GWP) than traditional fluorocarbon based refrigerants. One type of natural refrigerant are hydrocarbons (e.g. propane), which are classified as Class A3 refrigerants per ASHRAE Standard 34. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a charge limit…...
Industrial CONFINED SPACE FATALITIES Two workers die while cleaning molasses tank in Queensland (two workers died while they were reportedly cleaning a molasses tank – the men, aged 52 and 48, died after being affected by fumes while cleaning the tank) LOTO FATALITY OSHA investigating fatal accident at Michael Foods (fatal incident happened at about…...
When we think about process safety, we can think of the analogy of a wild animal inside its cage… as long as the cage holds or we don’t open the door on the cage the wild animal is safely contained. Unfortunately, sometimes the cage was not designed to hold such a powerful animal and believe it…...
Most, unfortunately not all, process safety professionals will agree that doing a “line break” on an actual process pipe containing the PSM/RMP covered chemical (HHC/EHS) falls within 1910.119(f)(4) or 68.69(d). But when it comes to “process hoses”, there remain many application questions. For me, any time the “process” is opened I break the task down…...
At 8:30 p.m. on May 11, 2017, two employees had been welding a pipe assembly and installed it on a chlorine tank. Employee #1 opened a valve to transfer the liquid chlorine from a supply tank into the weigh tank. A flange fitting was not tightened and both employees were sprayed with liquid chlorine. Both…...
The following were the top 10 most frequently cited standards by Federal OSHA in the fiscal year 2017 (October 1, 2016, through September 30, 2017):… Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in here...
