A 38-year-old male employee was fatally injured when he became exposed to an oxygen deficient atmosphere. The victim, a Stage Technician, was an employee of a live show theater company and was responsible for venting cold liquid carbon dioxide (fog) onto the stage. The CO2 would give a large cloud to mask the actor…...
CO2 Basement fatality at theater production (TN-OSHA) Read More »
A 38-year-old male employee was fatally injured when he became exposed to an oxygen deficient atmosphere. The victim, a Stage Technician, was an employee of a live show theater company and was responsible for venting cold liquid carbon dioxide (fog) onto the stage. The CO2 would give a large cloud to mask the actor…...
CO2 Basement fatality at theater production (TN-OSHA) Read More »
Reminds me of the HFO-1234yf campaign with the “mildly flammable” from the new classification in ASHRAE 34. This one though goes a step further… LPG cylinders are not dangerous, their filled with safety…. Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in here...
Relax – its filled with safety! Read More »
One of the PSM/RMP safe work practices I try and get anyone who I cross paths with to implement on ALL of their hazardous materials (regardless of PSM/RMP applicability) is the Line Break and Equipment Opening procedure and permit process. Too often I learn of incidents in processes where the HHC/EHS was under the PSM/RMP…...
Line Break gone bad (Double Fatality; 70% sodium hydroxide) Read More »
This is a presentation from Safety2019! that was done by one of our longest running corporate sponsor (10+ years), Dow Corning. Mike is now the Executive Vice President, Process Safety (Americas) with DEKRA and quite possibly the best “code pro” when it comes to flammable liquids, especially when they are in Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBC). …...
How Hazmat Use and Storage Impacts Your Facility’s Occupancy Classification Read More »
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…...
Have you seen all the video’s of the party balloons exploding? Read More »
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…...
The most widely-shipped toxic inhalation hazard (TIH) chemicals in US by route Read More »
In this picture from the Jack Rabbit, we can see the Liquid NH3 that has pooled under the container. This occurred under 95F temperature with a high wind speed, which blew the cloud away from the pool making the pool visible. The picture below was taken 10-seconds after the container was empty. Also, notice the…...
NH3 Liquid releases will eventually pool and auto-refrigeration will take place Read More »
The data from the Jack Rabbit tests done over the past decade is immense and exceptional learning tools. I always make sure my students, whether it be a HAZMAT responder class or a Process Safety course, fully understand how Vapor/Gas Density impacts us in a LOPC event. Using Chlorine and Ammonia, the contrast is stark…...
Vapor/Gas Density and a “picture is worth a thousand words” Read More »
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…...
WRONG CHEMICAL – WRONG TANK = Cl2 gas generation for 12 hours Read More »
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…...
Energy Isolation in Cl2 process results in release and one (1) hospitalization Read More »
