Hazardous Materials

Today I was working with a client who informed that there is a “shortage” of Helium (He) and prices are starting to rise significantly and this could have a financial impact on their business in the future. Some may not be aware but He is a gas that is used in high purity processes as…...

At 10:15 a.m. on February 12, 2015, an employee was working from the elevated basket of a manlift, installing sheetrock in an area of the job site where water piping was undergoing pneumatic testing, at 130 psi. At the same time, another contractor was performing a compressed air leak test. An 80-pound section of the…...

Chemical Road Rail Water  Total % of Total Domestic Shipping Totals\by Route (U.S. Tons) Ammonia (NH3) 5,793,000 3,470,592 1,718,974 10,982,566 52.8% 75% Chlorine (Cl2) 724,000 3,750,372 137,202 4,611,574 22.2% Sulfuric Acid (H2SO4) 257,000 207,560 2,057,721 2,522,281 12.1%   95% Acrylonitrile (C3H3N) 29,000 277,200 671,474 977,674 4.7% Ethylene Oxide (C2H4Q) 106,000 671,260 1,132 778,392 3.7% Hydrogen…...

This is a lesson in why “Unloading” any hazardous material is such a high-risk task.  In this incident, the facility had their connections locked (but the driver was told the combination), they were using the driver’s procedure, the connections were properly labeled, the driver could not see the tank he was pumping to, the company…...

At approximately 5:00 a.m. on February 8, 2014, Employee #1, a K2 Pure Solutions operator, was depressurizing a line that contained chlorine gas. Two attempts were made to depressurize the line. The first attempt resulted in a small chlorine release and employees having to evacuate to shelter and the second attempt resulted in the employee…...

PRESSURE TEST, then LEAK TEST piping BEFORE the introduction of the Hazardous Material! At 8:30 p.m. on May 11, 2017, two employees had been welding a pipe assembly and installed it on a chlorine tank. Employee #1 opened a valve to transfer the liquid chlorine from a supply tank into the weigh tank. A flanged…...

At 9:15 a.m. on June 17, 2017, an employee was conducting routine daily checks on Well Number 1 and Well Number 2 chlorine cylinders and noticed that they needed to be changed out for full chlorine cylinders. The employee noticed the regulator was feeding chlorine gas without the pumps running and noted that there was…...

With all the chatter these past few weeks about flammable gases and their NFPA 704 Diamond “Degree of Hazard”, it was suggested by several SAFTENG members that I write an article explaining what a “flammable gas” actually is, as some of our group text indicate some may not fully understand the true hazard of working…...