Last month, Federal OSHA issued a three (3) part GDC citation for a Polishing and Sanding Area’s combustible dust system. Specifically OSHA took issue with the Design and Operation of the Combustible Dust Collection system:
I have written several articles on Fit test Records with QNFT results, exceeding 10,000. I have seen number as high as 500,000. And to be honest I’m not sure why the makers of the QNFT machines even have the ability to record numbers over 10,000, as most of these manufacturers will state anything over 10,000
Not meant to be a trick question, but we see this failure often, especially when the facility utilizes “test vans” for their One-Stop safety testing that includes Audiograms for HCP requiremenrts and Fit Testing for the RP program. This applies ONLY to those doing Quantitative Fit Testing (QNFT). If we are doing QNFT, such as
Another international brand of cooling towers/evaporative condensers is marketing their product as if it is NOT a Confined Space or a Permit-Required Confined Space. For those who follow my safety rampages, know how this enrages me! As shown by the pictures below, this Cooling Tower is without question a Permit-Required Confined Space (PRCS); however, as
I see this all the time… E-stops on Hazardous Materials process located at the point of the expected/intended failure point, such as a loading/unloading station. Many safety pros have experience with E-stops as a safety device for machinery/equipment, in which the E-stop is located at the point of potential entrapment inside the machine/equipment. Even ANSI
On September 13, 2024, at 7:31 a.m. Employee #1, a 34-year-old, was working inside a 9-foot-deep sewer manhole in Minnesota. The employee was performing a construction task to cement the end of a pipeline, sealing an old sewer line. The employee was NOT wearing a harness or hooked up to a tripod, and was working
On February 16, 2022, at approximately 10:00 a.m., Employee #1, 28, was disconnecting a pipe and failed to release the pressure inside the pipe. When Employee#1 removed the screws from the pipe flange, the flange broke off and struck the employee’s leg resulting in a tibia fracture. The employee was hospitalized for treatment. No OSHA
At 1:00 p.m. on December 10, 2024, Employee #1, 28, was using a torch to heat the steel lid of a tank, intending to cut a hole for installing a level indicator. The flammable gas inside the tank ignited when the torch was applied, causing the tank to rupture. The employee’s lanyard was cut during
At 6:45 p.m. on December 13, 2024, an employee, 33, working as a laborer for a grain wholesale supplier was opening lids on top of rail cars prior to loading. The employee stepped from the catwalk onto the railcars while they were stationary. He was standing on top of one of the railcars with a
I have this debate regularly with facilities where I find “short-threading” on their flanges/manways, etc. This phrase is from an old pipe-fitters manual, and it’s what I was taught in 1993 when I entered the chemical process industry and PSM/RMP covered processes. Today, “full engagement” is defined at the bolt/nut being FLUSH. So I asked
I have railed against these refrigerants and all the code/standard revisions to make them easier to use. Now, OSHA has adopted the 7th edition of the GHS, and we now have Cat 1A and 1B. These flammable refrigerants fall in the 1B’s because:
It not often I come across a 70+ year old PV still in pristine condition. Below is the name plate for this vessel and it carries an interesting code compliance story. As I said, it’s not often to find a NH3 storage vessel this old and because of its age, it carries some SPECIAL PRV
