As I have written earlier, the new refrigerant HFO-1234yf is a Category 1 Flammable Gas. This flammable gas is stored under pressure as a liquid, which by definition makes this material a candidate for a BLEVE risk assessment. For those that are not familiar with the acronym BLEVE, it stands for Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor […]
HFO-1234yf is a Category 1 Flammable Gas. The manufacturers SDS(s) all say it, as well as 1910.1200 Appendix B. PLEASE see my article Refrigerant HFO-1234yf is a Flammable “4” in the NFPA 704 Diamond (Part 2) for the breakdown of these facts. With this Cat 1 Flammable Gas comes the hazard of flash fire(s)/explosions. Now
While doing some a BLEVE risk assessment I came across this 2007 research paper that I thought was an incredible read. If you are one who works with BLEVE risk this is a MUST READ; if you’re someone who finds BLEVEs interesting and wants to learn the inner workings of a BLEVE, this paper breaks
Cal/OSHA today issued 19 citations to a refinery for workplace safety and health violations following an investigation into the February explosion at the company’s Torrance refinery that injured four workers. The proposed penalties total $566,600. Eighteen of the citations were classified as serious due to a realistic possibility of worker death or serious injury. Six
I have been seeing a lot of RMP citations for failure to UPDATE the facility’s RMP every five (5) years. By far the number one issue this year based on the ESAs I have been trending. But one question comes to mind… RMP differs in PSM in a couple of ways, one way being that
In the past couple of months OSHA has been rescinding LOIs and issuing new LOIs on PSM Retail Exemption and the 1% rule and at the top of these LOIs (posted online) is a “blanket statement” from OSHA that I find sort of humorous and sad at the same time… “OSHA requirements are set by
In Part 1 of this series I established how this material is a Category 1 Flammable Gas based on both the manufacturer’s SDS and OSHA’s Hazardous Communications Standard Appendix B. In this article I wish to address how an HFO-1234yf storage tank, which is an ASME pressure vessel, should be labeled, versus how some have
All year I have received dozens of phone calls and e-mails from friends and colleagues in the automotive industry regarding this new refrigerant for A/C units inside 2016 model vehicles. Over the next couple of months, I will be posting a series of articles about this new refrigerant and the impact it is having on
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Everyone once in a while we come across purged and pressurized enclosures during our PSM/RMP audits involving processes that contain/process flammable liquids or gases. These purged and pressurized enclosures are used in lieu of using enclosures that are either intrinsically safe or explosion proof. But this method of protecting the process from ignition sources is
Employer(s) with employee(s) exposed to PSM-covered processes formerly exempted under OSHA’s 1992 interpretation of “retail facility” now must comply with the requirements of 29 CFR 1910.119 if the facility, or portion of the facility processing the highly hazardous chemical, does not fall into the North American Industrial Classification System definition of retail trade (NAICS 44
Today, OSHA issued their revised policy on their “retail exemption” and this change in OSHA enforcement will actually impact thousands of businesses who have submitted a Risk Management Plan. It all comes down to how EPA instituted their “Program Levels” when they implemented their RMP Rule. EPA has always said that if your process was
