Free – Page 287 – Safety Engineering (SAFTENG)

Contractor Safety training at petroleum refining or petrochemical manufacturing facilities (WA-OSHA)

The department is initiating rulemaking to implement the advanced safety training requirements for High Hazard Facilities. Chapter 49.80 RCW, enacted in 2019, requires owners of petroleum refining or petrochemical manufacturing facilities to use a skilled and trained workforce when contracting for construction, alteration, demolition, installation, repair, or maintenance work. By January 1, 2022, all workers […]

Amine regeneration unit explosion (UK’s HSE Report)

Shortly after 6 pm, on June 2, 2011, an atmospheric storage tank within the amine regeneration unit exploded. A fireball split the tank open and killed four (4) workers. The sole survivor sustained severe burns and suffered life-changing injuries. The force of the explosion ejected the five-ton steel tank roof over 180 feet through

EPA Updates its National Compliance Initiative: Reducing Accidental Releases at Industrial and Chemical Facilities data

February 17, 2020 / Chemical Process Safety (PSM/RMP), Free / Bryan Haywood

Last week EPA updated its National Compliance Initiative: Reducing Accidental Releases at Industrial and Chemical Facilities data and included an updated photo… Is this another “shot across the bow” to the ammonia refrigeration industry? They also updated their data with their 2019 Inspections:

Houston Explosion, Propylene, PSM, and RMP

February 16, 2020 / Chemical Process Safety (PSM/RMP), Free / Bryan Haywood

So much media coverage of the explosion in Northwest Houston on January 24, 2020. It is assumed that the explosion was caused by a propylene leak, a flammable gas that most people had never heard of before the explosion. What is so sad is that some politicians are jumping on board this tragedy and calling

OSHA updates 27 standards and regulations in 29 CFR Parts 1904, 1910, 1915, 1918, and 1926

February 14, 2020 / Free, OSHA Compliance / Bryan Haywood

The corrections concern the following regulations and standards:

Could OSHA issue REPEAT Citations against a “Franchisee” based on an accident at a different franchise?

February 14, 2020 / Free, OSHA Compliance / Bryan Haywood

In November 2019 a manager, 32, of a restaurant, a national chain, was overcome by chlorine gas and died. The investigation established that a worker at the restaurant spilled a “cleaner” on the floor during the day. Then later that night, a different employee started to clean the floor with a “floor cleaner”. The mixture

Flammable Liquids Conversion Table (NFPA Class vs. OSHA GHS Category)

February 14, 2020 / Flammable Liquids, Free / Bryan Haywood

A client has allowed me to share work I did several years ago when OSHA’s GHS threw a wrench into the flammable liquids world! There was so much confusion between Class and Category of flammable liquids, and during an engineering review, it was discovered that the engineering group had made a conversion error when going

Hazardous Locations: When, Where, and How

February 14, 2020 / Chemical Process Safety (PSM/RMP), Free / Bryan Haywood

When most ordinary people hear the term “Hazardous Location” many conjure images of a dangerous location associated with typical hazards; however, when a safety engineer or engineer from the process industries hear the phrase we immediately elvate our antenna and sit up and pay close attention to what is being said. But for those outside

Does magnitude matter in LOTO? (Blinds and Blanks with PRCS)

February 13, 2020 / Free, Lockout Tagout / Bryan Haywood

In 2014, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) issued a judgment on an OSHA case, and in the case, they made it clear that “magnitude” matters in lockout/tagout (LOTO). But for some reason, this piece of data is absent from many machine-specific LOTO procedures and OSHA always takes issue with this oversight. So

Who’da ever known that is a fire extinguisher, darn good thing they put a sign there!

February 13, 2020 / Free, OSHA Compliance / Bryan Haywood

In 2013, we discussed the OSHA and NFPA requirements for “identifying fire extinguishers” in Fire Extinguishers… Did you know they have to be identified? In that article, we touched on the OSHA and NFPA requirements for how fire extinguisher LOCATION(s) (not the actual fire extinguishers) are to be identified. But how many of us see

OSHA’s Poultry Processing Industry eTool and confined spaces

February 13, 2020 / Free, Permit Required Confined Spaces / Bryan Haywood

What do you get when you have no “qualified/competent” person on site who fully understands the implementation of a Confined Space program AND OSHA’s eTool Industry page is being read literally by the unqualified worker? The answer: SERIOUS PRCS PROBLEMS! I had a smile on my face the entire time I was thinking about how

Has OSHA’s Permit-Required Confined Space standard met its goal?

February 13, 2020 / Free, Permit Required Confined Spaces / Bryan Haywood

With year 2020 already claiming 7 lives inside PRCSs within the USA, I have to ask the question: Has OSHA’s Permit-Required Confined Space standard meet its goal? In OSHA’s Preamble for 1910.146, published in 1993, OSHA stated: OSHA has determined that permit spaces pose significant risks to employees (62 fatalities and 12,643 injuries and illnesses annually) and estimates that compliance