Hazardous Materials

This 2020 LOI rescinds the letter issued on July 25, 2019, to Ms. Hill, by removing the parenthetical in the second paragraph of the background section.  This is an interpretation regarding a possible conflict on the minimum separation distance between aboveground liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) containers and buildings in OSHA’s 29 CFR § 1910.110 –…...

The 2021 International Fire Code (IFC) contains regulations to safeguard life and property from fires and explosion hazards. Topics include general precautions, emergency planning, and preparedness, fire department access and water supplies, automatic sprinkler systems, fire alarm systems, special hazards, and the storage and use of hazardous materials. Key changes to the 2021 IFC include:…...

This safety alert is issued following an incident involving two explosions of ammonia gas cylinders at an ammonia gas filling and bottling plant.  The plant has been operating for more than 20 years. The ammonia stock from the suppliers will be stored first in the bulk storage tanks with a capacity of 500 and 900…...

In workplaces that handle/store hazardous materials, there is a need for exhaust ventilation systems when these “Control Areas” exceed the maximum allowable quantities (MAQ) of these hazardous materials.  I have used the International Mechanical Code (IMC) as my baseline code for 20+ years.  We see this code’s basic requirements in a lot of OSHA standards…...

Both OSHA and the International Fire Code use the Lethal-Dose 50 (LD50) to establish the toxicity of hazardous chemicals/materials and both use the metric milligram per kilogram of body weight in their assessments.  Just so we all have an idea of how small a milligram is… One (1) grain of sand weighs 1 mg An…...

We have been using OSHA’s Hazard Categories from the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) since 2012.  I have written a lot about the flammable categories,  but I tend to get a lot of questions about the Health Hazard Categories in my HAZCOM and HAZMAT training so I thought I would…...

Two of my major chemical incidents in my career occurred during “demo work” in a process that we were certain was gas-free/zero energy state.  And of course, we were wrong!  Highly toxic/flammable gases can travel long ways to places we never thought possible and do some serious damage to people and property when they get…...

I am going to bet that if you’re reading this article that your facility has a flammable gas that gets transferred from one container to another.  And I will also bet that these transfers are done under the safety blanket of “bonding and grounding” as we do for our flammable liquids.  But did you know,…...

In light of the recent EPA citation at a bulk storage facility for anhydrous ammonia (NH3) I thought it would be fitting to highlight a best practice from the state of Illinois for this type of process.  Most states are in the process of updating their state codes for the safe storage and handling of…...