Many of you have heard me joke about bollards being “lazy bollards” when they’re just bolted down to the concrete or worse into asphalt. We call them “lazy bollards” because they don’t work. Get it? Well, I have discovered a new low for bollard design!!! I call this the “unemployable bollard”!!! I kid you not, […]
Maintenance was being undertaken on a passenger ship lifeboat while the vessel was in port. One of the four (4) nitrogen cylinders for the emergency launching of the lifeboat had lost some pressure; it was showing 2,300 psig when it should have been between 2,600 psig. The cylinders were located in a covered area outside
One of these cylinders is not like the others, One of these cylinders doesn’t belong, Can you tell which cylinder is not like the others By the time I finish my song?…
Last week we saw a HAZMAT incident where over 50 workers were transported to medical facilities after ferric sulfate and sodium hypochlorite (bleach) were mixed together. From recent press updates, what happened on Wednesday (2/27/19) sure does sound like a truck carrying one of these chemicals was unloaded into a tank of the other chemical. The details
At 11:00 a.m. on June 1, 2018, an employee was transferring a chemical degreaser containing 1-5% caustic sodium hydroxide, from a 5-gallon jug into a small bottle. The chemical spilled onto the employee’s left hand and pants. The employee took off his pants, wiped his legs with wet cloths, and changed clothes. However, the employee
At 4:00 p.m. on January 5, 2018, Employee #1, employed by an industrial cleaning company, was working at a multiemployer project. He was working from an 8-foot stepladder, Werner Fiberglass 300-pound capacity P/N 100521-127 Model Number T6208 Mk 4. He was 2 feet above the ground and monitoring and adding water as necessary to evaporator
On August 27, 2016, about 8:26 a.m. EST, a railroad tank car sustained a 42-inch long crack in its tank shell shortly after being loaded with 178,400 pounds of liquefied compressed chlorine at a chlorine manufacturing plant in West Virginia. Over the next 2.5 hours, the entire 178,400-pound load of chlorine was released and formed
Fire Codes mean something… at least in our world of occupational safety and health. As I was entering a restaurant for dinner, I am checking out my environment and what do I see but two (2) dewars of Nitrogen in some kind of “float spa”. This was in a “strip mall” type setting so of course,
In petition P-1619, the Chlorine Institute requested that updates to publications currently listed in § 171.7(l)—specifically § 171.7(l)(1), (2), (5), and (12)—and referenced in various sections of the HMR be incorporated by reference. PHMSA conducted a review of these publications and found them suitable to propose incorporation into the HMR. In the NPRM, PHMSA proposed
I don’t think I have done a process safety course or a HAZMAT course where I do not have a lengthy sidebar discussion to explain why NH3 is a flammable gas under OSHA definitions, but not under DOT definitions. Yes, NH3 has a LEL of 15-16% and a UEL of 25-28% so it has a flammable range,
In June 2014 a qualified diesel mechanic, 39, died from burns and blunt force trauma when a refrigeration compressor blew up during his work. He and another gentleman, a boilermaker by trade who worked as a welder offered to move the refrigeration compressor from the cellar in order to assist. While they were in the cellar
The day before Thanksgiving a driver was killed (may he RIP) when he entered the cargo hold of his box truck to”investigate a leak”. As can be seen in the video below, the delivery truck was an enclosed box truck, rather than the style of truck typically used to transport gas cylinders as shown below.
