At 9:45 a.m. on February 22, 2021, an employee was working for a general, long-distance freight trucking company. He washed vehicles and cleaned equipment for the company. He was cleaning a tanker trailer that had contained ALFOL 16 (tradename for 1-Hexadecanol). The employer stated that the employee was inspecting the tank for materials. The atmosphere…...
At 5:00 p.m. on January 30, 2022, an employee was loosening powdered limestone from inside silo #7 with a weight. The employee entered the silo to recover the tool being used. The employee walked on top of the powdered limestone inside the silo (confined space) and was engulfed in the material and was killed as…...
The CSB promulgated its Accidental Release Reporting Rule to help the CSB decide when to initiate an investigation into an accidental release, including whether to deploy a team of investigators to the site to do “all things necessary and proper” to initiate an investigation and obtain critical information about the incident. Upon arriving at the…...
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This post contains a series of questions, that members of an organization might use – from the boardroom to the shop floor – to help them consider their personal contributions to safety culture. The questions are not intended to be exhaustive. We encourage operating organizations to use these questions as a basis for discussion and…...
In this post, I am using two recognized and widely used models to assess the “culture” of a facility. To be honest, as far as I know, these two models were never intended to be used next to each other. But the fit is amazing. I am calling these: Path of Progress and Path of…...
The best birthday present a process safety engineer could ask for; especially on a birthday when a client is dealing with a tragedy. OSHA has “officially” announced the potential changes to the scope of the current PSM standard it is considering:… Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a...
As my year comes to a close on the railroad, I recently has a discussion with a senior manager about ALARP, a new acronym for the RR. The manager wanted to know more about using the Hierarchy of Controls to reduce risks; more specifically, how we would reduce the SEVERITY of the consequence of an…...
The process of planning and controlling work activities is implemented to maintain safety. Work management is a deliberate process in which work is identified, selected, planned, scheduled, executed, closed, and critiqued. The entire organization is involved in and fully supports the process. Attributes: Work Management: The organization implements a process of planning, controlling,…...
A Safety-Conscious Work Environment (SCWE) is maintained where personnel feel free to raise safety concerns without fear of retaliation, intimidation, harassment, or discrimination. The Service Unit creates, maintains, and evaluates policies and processes that allow personnel to raise concerns freely. Attributes: SCWE Policy: The organization effectively implements a policy that supports individuals’ rights and…...
Issues potentially impacting safety are promptly identified, fully evaluated, and promptly addressed and corrected commensurate with their significance. Identifying and resolving a broad spectrum of problems, including organizational issues, strengthens safety and improves performance. Attributes: Identification: The organization implements a corrective action program with a low threshold for identifying issues. Individuals identify issues…...
Opportunities to learn about ways to ensure safety are sought out and implemented. Operating experience is highly valued, and the capacity to learn from experience is well developed. Training, self-assessments, and benchmarking are used to stimulate learning and improve performance. Safety is constantly scrutinized through various monitoring techniques, some of which provide an independent “fresh…...
