Chemical Process Safety (PSM/RMP)

A process, in terms of Process Safety Management, is defined as:  “Any activity involving a regulated substance including any use, storage, manufacturing, handling or on-site movement of such substances, or any combination of these activities. For the purposes of this definition, any group of vessels that are interconnected, or separate vessels that are located such that a regulated substance could…...

One of the debates we routinely have with fellow process safety professionals is the adoption of NFPA 51B vs. meeting 1910.252(a) requirements for their Hot Work safe work practice. I am a huge fan of NFPA 51B, as it is much more up-to-date than OSHA’s 1910.252, which, by the way, was based on the first…...

A massive leak of liquefied chlorine gas created a dangerous cloud of poison gas over the city of Henderson, Nevada, in the early morning hours of May 6, 1991. Over 200 persons were examined at a local hospital for respiratory distress caused by inhalation of the chlorine, and approximately 30 were admitted for treatment. Some…...

Those of us living within the realm of Process Safety Management know all too well the difficulty of controlling contractor work activities to a level that we are confident they are not increasing our process risks beyond our acceptable levels. Many contractors are offended by the fact that many PSM programs have multiple layers of…...

Relief systems include, but are not limited to, relief valves, relief headers, relief drums, and rupture disks. Design basis means documenting how the loads and sizes of the relief system and inlet and outlet sizes were determined. This includes:… Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log...

At approximately 9:30 p.m. on or about July 31, Employee #1, a can and bottling operation maintenance technician, responded to a possible ammonia leak during the second shift at the plant. A 2,000-lb outside storage tank pumped ammonia into the line-filled room to cool the syrups to between 35 and 40 degrees F before the…...

This National Safety Alert provides an update to National Safety Alert No. 5, Cell Phone Results in Fire, dated March 6, 2002, which addressed a flash fire on a platform in the Gulf of Mexico OCS. As detailed in National Safety Alert No. 5, a contract panel specialist worked on an open platform master control…...

Cutting and welding processes using electric arcs or oxy-fuel gas flames are necessary for our industrial world. Too often, however, the persons who use, hire, or supervise the use of the processes do not fully appreciate that their improper use can result in the loss of life and property by fire and explosion. Approximately 6…...

INTRODUCTION Recent inspection programs for metallic pressure containment vessels and tanks have revealed cracking and damage in a considerable number of the vessels inspected. Safety and hazard evaluations of pressure vessels, as also presented in OSHA Instruction PUB 8-1.5, need to consider the consequences of a leakage or a rupture failure of a vessel.  Two…...

 … Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in here...

On Tuesday, April 8, 1997, at approximately 8:59 a.m., a 5,700-gallon hydrochloric acid (HCl) storage tank ruptured during filling. The failure of the HCl tank caused a significant portion of its liquid contents (which totaled about 4,800 gallons of 31% HCl) to suddenly surge over the secondary containment. The force of the liquid also caused…...

This is one of the most commonly misunderstood RMP/PSM compliance issues for facilities that use rail cars as storage tanks and or use “tube trailers” as storage tanks. EPA has been clear since 1998 on how these rail cars that are hooked up to the process and those that are “stored on spurs” are to…...