Chemical Process Safety (PSM/RMP)

On August 21, 2011, Forty-seven (47) employees, 38 from the primary employer and nine (9) from a secondary temporary agency, were sent to hospitals for treatment of respiratory irritation after being exposed to chlorine dioxide released inside a tomato processing plant. Three (3) employees were admitted for further treatment. The chlorine dioxide release was due…...

Respondent is the owner of the meat processing facility which utilizes anhydrous ammonia, a hazardous substance, at the Facility.  From December 28-30, 2017, Respondent inadvertently released approximately 1,700 pounds of ammonia due to a faulty isolation valve in the Facility’s refrigeration system (“the Release”). On December 13, 2018, EPA conducted an inspection of the Facility…...

I have written about this topic numerous times, and each time it causes controversy among the SAFTENG members.  Some members are adamant that we should NEVER allow any “intervening valve(s)” in our pressure relief systems; others have seen it done many times.  ASME VIII does indeed allow “intervening valves” before and/or after a Pressure Relieving…...

At 8:30 a.m. on June 22, 2020, Employees #1, 25, and #2, 47, employed by a piping company, were working on the roof of a three-story food processing company. They were adding new pipe to two (2) new, already installed, 14-inch diameter chilled water lines. The chilled water lines had been pressure-tested with nitrogen…. Membership...

A petrochemical plant has been fined after ethylene, a flammable gas was released from a cracked pipe at the Ethylene Plant. On May 2, 2017, approximately 17 tons of ethylene were released from the pipe. This leak precipitated the formation of a flammable gas cloud of around 2,295,453 cubic ft. The gas cloud was seen…...

This past January 2021, The Chlorine Institute issued Edition 7 of their Pamphlet 65 – Personal Protective Equipment for Chlor-Alkali Chemicals (which is available for FREE). This is a MUST have document for those who have exposures to: CHLORINE SODIUM AND POTASSIUM HYDROXIDE (10 – 50 WT %) SODIUM HYPOCHLORITE (3 – 20 WT %)…...

Chlorine is a “toxic gas” and as such it has special requirements in the IFC as well as the IMC. I have written about how we design our gas cabinets, gas rooms, enclosures, and storage areas based on the IFC Chapter 50 and 60 requirements. In this article, I will address the IMC requirements which…...

During my “lost years” early in my college days (i.e. before I discovered firefighting and OSH) I built swimming pools during the summers.  That job required a lot of piping work, which I got pretty good at, at least I thought I had until I got into my first Chlorine (Cl2) process as a safety…...