In an earlier post tonight, I shared an OSHA Hazard Bulletin from 1993 titled: Chemical Exposures from Industrial Valve and Piping Systems. In that Bulletin OSHA, talks about the hazards and accidents related to workers opening processes. But there is another serious error we see often… Open Ended Piping. This is a serious NO-NO in…...
OSHA Hazard Information Bulletins – Chemical Exposures from Industrial Valve and Piping Systems May 14, 1996 MEMORANDUM FOR: REGIONAL ADMINISTRATORS FROM: MICHAEL CONNORSDEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY SUBJECT: Hazard Information Bulletin – Chemical Exposures from Industrial Valve and Piping Systems The purpose of this Hazard Information Bulletin is to heighten public awareness of the potential for death,…...
The risks in sampling activities can be off the charts without engineering controls, Administrative Controls, and PPE. This post shares my sampling system. I learned this the hard way, and I hope some will take this advice and reduce the risks when we ask operators to collect a sample from a “live process”. As I…...
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1/19/2026 UPDATE: “City officials said a pressurised storage tank exploded inside the factory. The tank was designed to hold steam and high-temperature water.” Source: https://www.firstpost.com/world/two-killed-85-hospitalised-as-blast-rips-through-chinese-steel-plant-factory-managers-detained-13970127.html There was an explosion at a steel plate plant in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, on 1/18/2026. This explosion looks to be a steam/pressure vessel explosion. We can see the steam expansion…...
On June 22, 2023, at about 9:10 p.m., a 5,200-gallon polyethylene storage tank (“tank”) ruptured. The rupture fatally injured one employee. At the time of the incident, the tank needed to be refilled with aluminum chloride; however, sulfuric acid was added instead. Approximately 80 gallons of 93 percent sulfuric acid were added to the 60…...
During the morning of February 24, 2023, an unknown amount of hydrocarbons and hydrogen sulfide were released, fatally injuring an employee inside an enclosed building at an oil and gas facility in North Dakota. The hydrocarbons and hydrogen sulfide displaced the oxygen in the building, and the employee asphyxiated in the oxygen-deficient atmosphere. The employee…...
On December 19, 2022, at approximately 11:10 a.m., an accidental release of 22,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia occurred from the NH3 refrigeration process at a food processing facility in Norwood, Massachusetts. Exposure to the toxic ammonia vapor fatally injured one contract worker and seriously injured another contract worker. In addition, the release caused about $4…...
This video demonstrates the lengths some will go to “get it done”. We can see two workers with fire extinguishers, positioning themselves on both sides of the pipeline as if they know what’s going to happen. These are NOT Hot Work “fire watches”; these workers are there to do just what they expected: put the…...
On Thursday, 1/15/2025, a 150-pound compressed gas cylinder of Anhydrous Ammonia (NH3) catastrophically failed while it was being transported in by a cylinder delivery vehicle. Three (3) people were hospitalized from this event: the truck driver, a poll plaza worker, and a security guard. As of 1/17/26, they are in stable condition. The video and…...
On June 14, 2021, at approximately 6:50 a.m., an accidental release of mineral oil occurred. The mineral oil ignited, causing a fire. The event resulted in $380 million in property damage and the permanent closure of the facility. Before the incident, the facility employed approximately 200 people. Leading up to the incident, the facility had…...
On December 3, 2020, at approximately 2:30 p.m., an accidental release of chlorine gas occurred at a plastics facility and seriously injured one employee. At the time of the incident, four (4) employees were involved in replacing an empty chlorine container with a full 2,000-pound (one-ton) container at the facility’s Ethylene Glycol unit. The unit…...
