The Department of Industrial Relations’ (DIR) Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board today approved a landmark regulation to strengthen workplace safety and health at oil refineries across the state. The new regulation provides a framework for anticipating, preventing and responding to hazards at refineries. The approved regulation introduces a new refinery safety order enforced by […]
This is another Wrong Chemical – Wrong Tank incident in which Anhydrous Ammonia (NH3) was off-loaded to Propane Storage Tanks. Two 30,000-gallon propane tanks, each at 70% capacity, were additionally filled to 85% with NH3. Similar plumbing on BOTH transport and storage tanks made the transfer possible, as both propane tanks shared common piping,
At about 14:35 on 9/29/12, an explosion and fire occurred in an intermediate tank that temporarily stored bottom liquid from the glacial acrylic acid rectifying column. The fire then spread to the nearby equipment and buildings such as acrylic acid tanks, toluene tank and fire engines. Fatalities: 1 (firefighter) Severely injured: 5 (2 firefighters and
I joke with my HAZMAT students that I am going to dress up as “IDLH” and scare everyone on Halloween and I joke with my PSM students that I am going to dress up as a MOC and scare everyone; it’s just meant to be a joke, but one day someone asked me… “What would
The state of MA has modified it’s State HAZMAT code, formerly called 527 CMR 33.00: Hazardous Material Process or Processing. The process safety code, now found in the State Fire Cide, Chapter 60, Hazardous Materials, has added a “performance alternative”, as well as providing more specifics and updating definitions. Here is what’s new: NOTE: Still
Today the U.S. Chemical Safety Board released their report into a 2015 refinery explosion and in their report they reference one of my favorite documents of all time from the U.K.’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE), The safe isolation of plant and equipment. Another EXCELLENT diagram we can incorporate into our energy isolation plans for Line Break/Equipment Opening and
Anyone who has been through an in-depth PSM/RMP audit realizes that a single finding can have far-reaching impacts and causes. This means that the finding may need more than “fixing”; it may need to be investigated. What do I mean? Here is an excellent example…
Back in 2015 I wrote about changing the “service” of a pressure vessel and all that should be considered in this change. Late last year my team and I ran across a very common error in “changing the service”, albeit the change was an actual change of location. Here’s what happened…
We are no longer surprised when we come across a “process” which is not a PSM-covered process because the facility has managed the quantity of their HHC below OSHA’s threshold. However, from a risk perspective, having 9,975 pounds of an HHC versus having 10,000 pounds does not lessen our process or personnel risks, but that
In my Process Safety, HAZMAT, and Emergency Response course, I always walk the students through an exercise to demonstrate just how dangerous chemicals such as Cl2 and NH3 are. So many have come to believe that these chemicals are hazardous only when we exceed the OSHA/EPA Thresholds for PSM/RMP. In a 40 ft × 40
In my Process Safety, HAZMAT, and Emergency Response course, I always walk the students through an exercise to demonstrate just how dangerous chemicals such as Cl2 and NH3 are. So many have come to think that these chemicals are only hazardous when we exceed the OSHA/EPA Thresholds for PSM/RMP. In a space that is 40
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board has released preliminary findings from its ongoing investigation of the toxic chemical release that occurred at a distilled spirits plant in Kansas on October 21, 2016. The CSB’s investigation into the release has identified several shortcomings in the design and labeling of loading stations, as well as adherence to chemical
