Chemical Process Safety (PSM/RMP)

This is a study done by Commission of the European Communities which looked at the causes and consequences of Ammonia Accidents in the-the EU.  It is a nice breakdown of the accidents and their contributing factors that we may be able to learn from. Due to its massive use, ammonia is often involved in accidents. Ammonia is…...

Liquid ammonia leakage accidents can cause serious consequences. This paper makes research on the liquid ammonia leakage accidents based on safety system engineering theory model. Shanghai Baoshan”8.31” liquid ammonia leakage accident is used as an example in this paper and the direct and indirect reasons for the accident are analyzed and combined into four factors: human, material…...

After maintenance, a scaffold was taken away to be able to start the cooling fan.  Seconds after start up of a cooling fan, there was a lot of noise and a metal scaffold deck flew through the air and fell on the ground.  CLICK HERE (pdf) for the Incident Alert…. Membership Required You must be a...

A few months ago we discussed the first step in establishing our Dry Chlorine piping “service class” and in that article, I stressed how critically important that step was, as the rest of our design will be based on the chosen “service class”.  In this article, we will see that I was not joking!  As…...

No it is not a spongy football for kids! NURF is the acronym for “Normally Unoccupied and Remote Facility”. It is a term used in OSHA’s PSM standard and NURFs are EXEMPTED from complying with OSHA’s PSM standard; however, EPA’s RMP rule does NOT have a NURF exemption so be careful – EPA manages this…...

The National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors recorded the number of accidents involving pressure vessels at an increase of 24% over the course of a year between 1999 to 2000. These statistics include power boilers, steam heating boilers, water heating boilers, and unfired pressure vessels. However, the increased number of accidents was not reflected…...

PLEASE NOTE that this citation is SIGNIFICANT in that OSHA took issue with how Operating Procedures were controlled/revised/managed!  OSHA found operators using three (3) different revisions for the same task that caused the release.  Document control records had odd dates as well.  A “document control” system is NOT a PSM (or RMP) requirement, BUT we…...

This is another example of a change to our process that may not require a wrench to complete, but it is my opinion, as well as now the National Board’s, that changing the service of a pressure vessel is indeed a change that should undergo an MOC.  The National Board Inspection Code (NBIC) Part 2, SUPPLEMENT…...