Bryan Haywood

OSHA cites food plant with REPEAT PSM citations (NH3 & $121K)

OSHA has cited a processor of chicken, beef and pork for repeat and serious violations of workplace safety standards following an inspection at a NY manufacturing plant. The proposed fines total of $121,720. The inspection, which began on May 15, was conducted under OSHA’s Site Specific Targeting Program, which directs enforcement resources to high-hazard workplaces […]

New Edition of Pamphlet 6, Piping Systems for Dry Chlorine, now AVAILABLE (FREE Download)

Revision 16 of this pamphlet includes the addition of a section on fully-lined valves (4.1.9), a more robust section on liquid expansion chambers (5.5), recommendations on plastic pipe selections and discussion on gas permeability under vacuum (9), a caution on pneumatic testing (11.2.2), updated guidance on hydrostatic testing (appendix A, 2.3.1), and addition of a

PHA’s and “previous incidents”

One area that is often overlooked or not applied during process hazards analysis (PHA) is a review of previous incidents.  This is often not done as the process has no reported incidents in the past five years.  We can discuss/challenge that “phenomenon” in a later posting, but I wanted to offer this bit of advice…

Pressure Vessel Accident Rates

With the release of the CSB accident report involving the catastrophic failure of an ASME pressure vessel and me posting it this afternoon, I am already getting e-mails (5 and counting within the first two hours) claiming the incident is “1 in a million” and that I am scaring people for no sound reason.  Really?

CATASTROPHIC FAILURE of ASME Pressure Vessel (Video and CSB Investigation)

This accident occurred December 7, 2009, with a violent rupture of an ASME pressure vessel.  The video contains an animation which depicts the stress corrosion cracking (SCC) that accumulated over time in the walls of a pressure vessel where synthetic quartz crystals were manufactured under extremely high pressures and temperatures.  The incident had many failures

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