At 4:00 p.m. on January 5, 2018, Employee #1, employed by an industrial cleaning company, was working at a multiemployer project. He was working from an 8-foot stepladder. He was 2 feet above the ground and monitoring and adding water as necessary to evaporator pans to prevent freezing. The float system on the evaporator failed,…...
Many thanks to Luke Dam, CEO of Safety Wise, for having some fun and making these SAFTENG videos. If you’re looking for a great incident investigation tool be sure to check out Luke’s company… they are worldwide and they make root cause analysis easy (something many struggle with). … Membership Required You must be...
ABSOLUTELY! One of my engineering managers early in my career was the founder of the “engineering geek squad” and was an absolute stickler for details when it came to technical matters. He always told me I was driving him to the insane asylum with my improper interchangeable use of the terms “vapor” and “gas” when…...
This morning, North of Chicago, a 2,000-gallon (8,750 pounds of NH3) nurse tank appears to have suffered a catastrophic failure releasing all 1,700 gallons/8,750 pounds of NH3 onto the road and ditches. The reason I wonder if this was in the realm of a “Worst Case Release Scenario” is that we had Temps in the…...
Once or twice a year I check on the top 10 or 20 RMP accident histories to find any interesting trends. I have been doing this for about 12 years and since starting them, Anhydrous Ammonia always finds it’s place as the top Toxic involved. There are some who want to believe that Anhydrous Ammonia…...
The business was convicted of one violation under the Environmental Protection Act and was fined $100,000 plus a victim fine surcharge of $25,000, with eight months to pay the fine. Background: The business operates a facility in the County of Lambton, which produces food grade carbon dioxide and is supplied with raw carbon dioxide from a…...
While doing some “Pre-Start Up Review” work for a client, I was tasked with reviewing the Emergency Response aspect of the facility’s ability to respond to an NH3 incident. As part of this review I asked the question… Have we coordinated our emergency response needs with the LEPC and the local FD(s)? This is a NEW…...
As I have said many times before, the world of process safety can be a very confusing and strange sandbox to play in. There are so many rumors and innuendoes stemming from the fact that our PSM/RMP world is made up of a weave of RAGAGEPs, many of which practicing process safety professional can’t fully understand…...
9/2020 UPDATE: I have contacted the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Pesticide & Fertilizer Management Division regarding a statement on this 2-page “Cheat Sheet” regarding their apparent requirement that Hydrosrtatic RVs be put on NH3 vapor piping and vapor hoses. This is how it is presented: Hydrostats must be installed in each section of liquid and…...
With OSHA’s Process Safety Management standard coming up on its 27th birthday, we are seeing companies still grappling with managing their Hazardous Locations (HAZLOC). When the process involves a flammable liquid or gas, it is still fairly common to find a HAZLOC containing permanently installed equipment that is not rated for the HAZLOC. And by…...
The act of draining/venting a highly hazardous chemical (HHC)/extremely hazardous substance (EHS) from a process can be one of the most hazardous tasks a worker can undertake, but there are some easy and cheap actions/designs we can consider to reduce these hazards. Some of the best guidance I have come across is the IIAR’s “Oil…...
Recently I had the pleasure of working with a client on a PHA project during which we came across another excellent example of how “start-up’s” can be very different from the “normal start-up” procedure. I like to bring these examples to our attention as we still hear this all the time… “our initial start-up/normal start-up/start-up…...
