Flammable Liquids

An employee, 49, of a paint manufacturing company spent eight days in intensive care on life support and has been left with all-over body scarring, partial blindness to one eye, hearing damage, and damage to a knee and shoulder.  He was off work for 16 months.  The explosion at the company’s premises on August 4,…...

We have discussed this before; there is a significant difference between Recognized and Generally Accepted Good Engineering Practices (RAGAGEPs) and OSHA’s minimum performance compliance standards.  OSHA standards may be adequate when quantities of the hazardous material(s) are managed at a lower inventory level; however, once those inventory levels exceed the PSM/RMP threshold, the old minimum…...

The phrase “important building” is used in many hazardous material(s) standards and codes.  OSHA, IFC, and NFPA all use the phrase, yet the phrase is not defined in any of these codes.  And because of this lack of definition, there are usually needless debates about their role in safety or the hazards they may present. …...

NFPA’s Fire Protection Research Foundation completed a project to identify, summarize, and analyze static electricity incidents. A summary of the current provisions in NFPA 77 are provided and existing knowledge gaps were identified. This report assists the NFPA 77 Technical Committee on Static Electricity and others in the fire protection and life safety industry. The…...

I was asked what I thought was the best flammable liquid code on the entire planet.  Honestly, I can not answer, as I do not know all the flammable liquid codes on the planet, only those I have worked with in the countries where I do process safety work.  But in my limited experience, I…...

This Instruction STD from MI-OSHA is too good not to share with those who deal with 1910.106(e) and their flammable liquids safety efforts.  It does a nice job comparing the 1910.106 (which is based on the 1968 edition of NFPA 30) with the current NFPA 30 standard…. Membership Required You must be a member to...

If you have followed me for years, you know I love to use the International Fire Code over outdated OSHA standards.  For me, it is ALL about safety and not compliance; luckily, I have many clients who take the same approach, and we have made some serious improvements to a hazardous process.  Here is a…...

Flammable processing areas are required to have exhaust ventilation per 1910.106(e)(3)(v).   But we continue to see serious errors in the ventilation design basis, specifically where the vapors are being exhausted. The OSHA standard simply states the vapors must be exhausted to a “safe location,” but this phrase is not defined nor quantified in 1910.106…....

At 1:30 p.m. on December 27, 2021, two employees worked in spray painting operations on a ship. At some point, the hose line was clogged with debris and paint material. The employees poured paint thinner into the hose to attempt to clear the clog. Employee #1 held the hose line while Employee #2 regulated the…...

Call me crazy, but this just blew me away.  And once again we find ourselves faced with an “industry practice” vs. “RAGAGEP”.  We were at a facility several years ago where pieces of equipment are painted and this painting is a huge pride of the manufacturing sector and hence they have some very tight QA…...