Snapped this pic this week and thought it would be a great pic to start a discussion about Car-Sealing valves in their OPEN position. And yes, Car Seals are for more than just Pressure Relief Systems. In the pic below, there are two (2) valves that are candidates for Car Seals; one (1) of the…...
At 2:45 p.m. on September 19, 2014, two employees, both 50, were replacing a valve in a process line that transported 70% caustic solution of sodium hydroxide (NAOH) from storage tanks to a loading rack. While they were removing the valve and a stopper plate that had been previously inserted into the line, the employees…...
NTSB UPDATE: Upon arrival, the driver discovered the DOT 407 aluminum cargo tank was leaking and contacted his company to report it. NTSB officials say approximately 20 minutes later, the cargo tank exploded, separating the back compartment from the remainder of the cargo tank. The blast killed the driver and sent a plant worker to…...
The company owns and operates an ammonia refrigeration system at its production facility, specializing in egg products and breakfast-style entrees. The Facility uses a two-stage, closed-loop, ammonia refrigeration system to refrigerate the food items. The ammonia refrigeration system at the Facility includes eleven compressors, fifteen evaporators, ten make-up air units, seven condensers, three heat exchangers,…...
Employee #1, a 33-year-old apprentice steamfitter, was a member of a 2-man crew installing a 6 in. diameter PVC heating pipeline linked with a school gymnasium under construction. Pressure testing the line’s integrity, including coupling connections, had begun at the specified air pressure of 150 psi. Shortly before 1:30 p.m. on August 29, 1991, Employee…...
We have seen this life-threatening failure at least once or twice in our work! Most facilities have NO IDEA of how close they were to killing an employee. Some claimed it’s “common sense”, but trust me, these fatalities happen more often than most think. Hence, OSHA has required the following since its 1998 revision of…...
Employee #1, a warehouse operator, dropped his safety glasses into the compartment of a railroad tank car that was being filled with aerosol. The aerosol was blown through a line by low-pressure nitrogen (N2) gas. After Employee #1 notified coworkers and his supervisor, the material flow was turned off, but NOT the gas. Wearing an…...
I have been writing a lot about the hazards of using N2 and CO2 in occupied spaces without adequate safeguards. This fatal accident occurred inside what many will call an “instrument shack” within a chemical process. This room had a gas chromatograph machine that was NOT intrinsically safe, so it was within a “pressureized enclosure”…...
I think most people will agree that the safest form of travel is “flying commercially”. Yet this entails being in a tube with wings at 35,000 feet, flying at 400 mph, with 50,000 pounds of jet fuel. So how can an activity be so HAZARDOUS and yet be so LOW in RISKS? This is the…...
Whenever I facilitate a PHA for a client who is serious about the exercise, I always create a visual on a white board so the team can methodically discuss ALL the safeguards/barriers/controls that are present to PREVENT-PROTECT-MITIGATE the event being studied. It looks like this:… Membership Required You must be a member to access this...
The Respondent owns and operates a ferric chloride manufacturing facility, which maintains a maximum inventory of 3,000,000 pounds of the regulated toxic substance chlorine, as stated in the December 21, 2021, RMP that was submitted to and reviewed by EPA. Chlorine is a regulated toxic substance under Section 112 of the CAA with a threshold…...
Hazmat crews respond to propane tank leak in Suffolk Talk to anyone who deals with LPG, and they will tell you that we normally see an increase in leaking tanks this time of year. However, I believe we are seeing an increase in these events year after year. One speculation is that delivery businesses are…...
