I am a Safety Professional
I am a Safety Professional I am not a police officer and I do not write citations. My job is to monitor, audit, review, and advise.
Modifications of a Hydrogen Skid unit leads to explosion with serious injuries during start-up
A sealed, unclassified electrical control enclosure, part of a listed and certified force-ventilated commercial hydrogen processing unit enclosure, exploded when the equipment manufacturer’s technician pressed the machine stop switch to complete the factory commissioning procedure. The technician was forcefully hit by the flying metal panel holding the switch and sustained serious injuries requiring lengthy hospitalization
Kingman, AZ BLEVE (7/5/73)
On Thursday, July 5th, 1973 at approximately 1:30 pm, two employees of Droxol Propane were in the process of off-loading the contents of the 127 kl (33,500 gal) railroad tank car into two propane storage tanks. When the valves were opened, one of the connections was discovered to be leaking. One of the employees attempted
PRCS citation @ Truck Stop and tanker washing business (IN-OSHA $275K)
The death of a worker while cleaning the inside of a tanker trailer has led to a proposed $276,176 fine against an Indiana truck stop. The business was cited by IN-OSHA for six serious violations and five willful violations (“Knowing” as they’re called in IN-OSHA’s plan). Here is the breakdown of the citations:
Anhydrous Ammonia incident leads to blindness
At 2:00 p.m. on May 27, 2019, an employee, 19, was preparing to transfer anhydrous ammonia (NH3) from a bulk storage container to a customer-owned double nurse tank. The employee, who was NOT wearing any PPE, opened a valve on the nurse tank before attaching the transfer hoses, causing pressurized NH3 to be released directly
Fatality inside mulch coloring machine (LOTO)
At 6:05 p.m. on March 3, 2021, an employee, 27, was clearing jammed mulch from a mulch coloring machine. The employee disconnected the power from the machine, entered the hopper, and began removing mulch. The employee exited the hopper, restored power, and restarted the machine. The employee reentered the machine a second time WITHOUT DISCONNECTING
PRCS Fatality in tanker truck – one entrant and one would-be rescuer (H2S atm)
At 11:00 a.m. on June 8, 2021, Employee #1 washed the inside of a tanker to clear chemical residue from the inside of the tanker. At some point, Employee #1 lost consciousness and was found by Employee #2, who attempted to rescue Employee # 1 from the tanker. A coworker heard Employee #2 in distress
PRCS Fatality – single entrant – NO LOTO (Inert atm w/ Argon Gas)
At 7:15 a.m. on June 18, 2021, an employee was working as a maintenance technician for a firm that provided maintenance and repair services for land-based and airborne gas turbine engines for civilian and military clients. He and other workers in the maintenance department were replacing metal bars at the bottom of a pit furnace,
Simple LOCKOUT would have saved a life that day! (PRCS Fatality)
Anyone who works at a processing facility that has PRCSs with agitators will always fear this happening, yet this is a SIMPLE FAILURE of LOTO and should never happen. I can probably count a dozen incidents where I have seen this happen with lesser consequences. At 11:15 a.m. on July 17, 2021, an employee was
OSHA, old man winter, and outdoor exit routes
OSHA standards were usually written after a day like this! (emphasis by me) 1910.36(h) An OUTDOOR exit route is permitted. 1910.36(h)(1) The outdoor exit route must have guardrails to protect unenclosed sides if a fall hazard exists; 1910.36(h)(2) The outdoor exit route must be covered if snow or ice is likely to accumulate along the
Where are HAZLOCs normally needed?
WA-OSHA standards were revised a number of years ago, so they are in “plain English.” These are a GREAT SOURCE of information for anyone looking for a straight forward explanation of OSHA standard requirements. One particular standard that I found helpful was its Hazardous Location (HAZLOC) explanations. These hazardous locations are classified as follows:
Accidents happen; it is a cold hard fact of this world. But how we respond to these accidents is what makes us different!
Another excellent video of how world-class people respond to a workplace tragedy. We will all suffer such an event if we stay in this profession long enough. But hopefully, you will be surrounded by real leaders who rise to the occasion and LEAD, as leadership is the ONLY way out of such a tragedy. You