Safety Engineering (SAFTENG)

Almost 50% of serious HAZMAT transportation incidents occur during loading and unloading operations

June 26, 2026 / Chemical Process Safety (PSM/RMP), Emergency Response, Free, Hazardous Materials, OSHA Compliance / Bryan Haywood

The transfer of hazardous materials from a cargo-tank motor vehicle to fixed-site storage poses a critical vulnerability in chemical handling. While high-speed highway collisions capture more attention, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) estimates that roughly 25% to 50% of serious HAZMAT transportation incidents actually occur during loading and unloading operations. These accidents […]

Can anyone perform the “annual maintenance” on fire extinguishers?

June 15, 2026 / Emergency Response, Free, OSHA Compliance / Bryan Haywood

I get some interesting questions and see some very strange things in my work around the country, but this one seems to have grown legs in the world of “cost-cutting” in safety. “Let’s have our maintenance people do the ‘annual maintenance’ on our fire extinguishers”… um NO WAY! And this is just not a “Haywood

Can OSHA issue 5(a)(1) citations when a process is under its PSM TQ?

June 11, 2026 / Chemical Process Safety (PSM/RMP), Emergency Response, Free, Hazardous Materials, OSHA Compliance / Bryan Haywood

Apparently, they can and have. Here are some GDC citations for an NH3 refrigeration process. These were part of a large release inspection that included some HAZWOPER and HAZCOM citations. My only guess is that these GDC citations are tied directly to the NH3 release, but I have not yet seen the field notes, so

NFPA updates its 704, Standard System for the Identification of the Hazards of Materials for Emergency Response

June 11, 2026 / Emergency Response, Free, OSHA Compliance / Bryan Haywood

The 2027 edition of the standard includes new definitions for the terms battery energy storage system and lithium-based battery with associated annex material. Updates have been made in Section 6.2 to align with NFPA 1 regarding 1A and 1B flammable gases and to further clarify that Category 1B has a lower flammability than Category 1A

Preliminary Findings in Robbins Lumber Fire and Explosion Investigation

May 26, 2026 / Emergency Response, Free / Bryan Haywood

FMO Releases Preliminary Findings in Robbins Lumber Fire and Explosion Investigation FMO Investigators and ATF Special Agents worked throughout the Memorial Day weekend at the scene of the Robbins Lumber fire and explosion in Searsmont. During that time, personnel paused to honor Morrill Firefighter Andrew Cross and remember military members who made the ultimate sacrifice

Explaining The “Solidification” Temperature Reality inside the MMA Tank in CA

May 25, 2026 / Chemical Process Safety (PSM/RMP), Emergency Response, Free, Hazardous Materials / Bryan Haywood

The Fire Chief was talking about the phase change occurring inside the MMA tank. These are the critical temps for that to happen.

I wondered when the MMA tanks were installed in Garden Grove, CA

May 25, 2026 / Chemical Process Safety (PSM/RMP), Emergency Response, Free, OSHA Compliance / Bryan Haywood

So I went back in time using Google Earth, and the last clear image was on June 1, 1994, and the three (3) tanks were present. Now, I have no idea if they were being used for MMA at that time. But the three (3) tanks were present, along with the larger tank next to

Can we use ACGIH TLVs/NIOSH RELs in the MUC formula rather than OSHA’s PELs?

May 24, 2026 / Emergency Response, Free, Hazardous Materials, OSHA Compliance, Respiratory Protection / Bryan Haywood

The simple answer is yes, we can use ACGIH TLVs or NIOSH RELs to calculate the Maximum Use Concentration (MUC), but with one ABSOLUTE regulatory caveat: The resulting limit must be more protective (stricter) than what the OSHA standard dictates, or be applied to a chemical that OSHA does not currently regulate. Under 1910.134(b), OSHA

The challenges of QUENCHING an MMA Polymerization event

May 24, 2026 / Chemical Process Safety (PSM/RMP), Emergency Response, Free, Hazardous Materials / Bryan Haywood

For those curious, it will take around 27 pounds of Phenothiazine (PTZ) to successfully QUENCH the reaction, or, as some may call it, “short-stopping”. But these events usually occur in a “process vessel” that has an agitator. These tanks in CA do NOT appear to have agitators; however, they may be able to “mix” the

MMA and the DOT Emergency Response Guide (ERG)

May 24, 2026 / Emergency Response, Free, Hazardous Materials / Bryan Haywood

A lot of folks are angry that they have been forced from their homes, especially over a holiday weekend when families travel to visit families. I understand their anger, and I applaud the OCFA for their communication efforts to explain their decisions. So, for those of you who do not live and work in the

Critical Temps for MMA

May 24, 2026 / Chemical Process Safety (PSM/RMP), Emergency Response, Free, Hazardous Materials, OSHA Compliance / Bryan Haywood

We keep hearing all these different temps from the media and OCFA. I am pretty sure they are both using Farenheit and Celsuis interchangably in their remarks and this can be confusing as heck. I just heard a media update state that “50 degrees is the happy place” for MMA. 50°F is the Flash Point

Explaining a Polymerization Event (Gemini+)

May 23, 2026 / Chemical Process Safety (PSM/RMP), Emergency Response, Free, Hazardous Materials / Bryan Haywood

An uncontrolled polymerization event in a Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) storage tank is a classic, catastrophic thermal runaway scenario. When the monomer begins linking into polymer chains, the system enters a self-accelerating feedback loop that can rapidly overwhelm the vessel’s pressure-relief systems, leading to a violent rupture that often resembles a Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion