Ammonia Explosion News Accounts
Ammonia Explosion, Mississippi Leaking ammonia ignited by a gas-fired unit heater exploded at this milk-processing, ice-cream manufacturing plant. The explosion occurred in a one-story packaging warehouse. The building was constructed of concrete blocks with a roof system of cement fiberboard on steel joists and steel columns. There was no automatic sprinkler protection. At approximately 7:05 am, the
EPA announces summary of enforcement actions for Winter 2012
EPA completed 35 enforcement actions from January 1 through March 31, 2012 to ensure individuals, businesses, and governments are complying with environmental regulations. Below is a summary table of EPA’s enforcement actions related to RMP and EPCRA during the second quarter of federal fiscal year 2012 (January – March 2012).
Does your PSM/RMP included power systems?
There is not a PHA that goes by where someone ask me “why are we discussing power outages, when we have no control over them”? It is quite simple, we need to analyze what could/would happen if we loose power! Yes, loosing the power may be out of our hands somewhat, but what happens when
DHS completes the 1000th Compliance Assistance Visit (CAV)
On Wednesday April 25th 2012, the Infrastructure Security Compliance Division (ISCD) reached a milestone as it completed its 1000th Compliance Assistance Visit (CAV). CAVs support the regulated community by helping chemical facilities to understand and meet the requirements under the Chemical Facility Anti-terrorism Standards (CFATS) based on their own unique circumstances.
FREE COPY of Z49.1:2012 Safety in Welding, Cutting, and Allied Processes
Z49.1:2012 Safety in Welding, Cutting, and Allied Processes An American National Standard. Download your free copy today! DOWNLOAD (PLEASE NOTE this is an external link and that you have to register w/ AWS to begin the FREE download)
Anhydrous Ammonia Tank Catastrophic Failure
On July 13, 1973, in Potchefstroom, South Africa there was an anhydrous ammonia accident involving a catastrophic failure of a pressurized ammonia storage tank that instantaneously released 38 tons of anhydrous ammonia into the atmosphere. Eighteen people died and an unknown number were injured. A visible cloud extended about 1,000 feet wide and about 1,400 feet
Applying PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) pipe tape is not “common sense”
I am sure many of you have heard the old saying… “it’s just common sense” when it comes to applying PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) tape, often called “thread sealants” or “plumber’s tape”. Yet this practice is a critical skill for ensuring leak-free connections in threaded piping systems. While it seems straightforward, the direction and tension of the
Relief Valve sizing and combustible/flammable storage
At the heart of any relief system design basis are the “scenarios” chosen to base the sizing of the relief system. The two most common scenarios used are the “fire scenario” and the “blocked-in scenario”. It is the fire scenario I wish to review in this article and what has to go along with this
Has PSM driven us to dillute some “engineering standards”?
This month marks the 20th anniversary of OSHA’s Process Safety Management standard, which is built upon Recognized and Generally Accepted Engineering Practices (RAGAGEP). There was no way OSHA could write a “specific” standard to cover all the types of processes handling the list of Highly Hazardous Chemicals (HHC) so they instead wrote what is called
Pressure Vessels, MDMT, and Auto-Refrigeration (NBBI)
Auto-refrigeration is a phenomenon common to Anhydrous Ammonia. Anhydrous Ammonia exist in both the liquid and gaseous phases at ambient temperatures with pressures ranging from 2 psig up to 2,500 psig. That is, there is a gaseous layer over the liquefied gas within the pressure vessel.
Implementation of New ASME Stamp for Pressure Relief Devices
The 2011 addenda of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code includes a new ASME Code stamp which replaces all of the current ASME pressure relief device stamps (V, HV, NV, UV, UD, TD). The new ASME stamp is the same for all Code stamped items, and is accompanied by a “designator” which identifies the specific product. The designator consists