The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a Final Rule to revise its regulations and increase the maximum civil penalty amount for violations of the Federal hazardous materials safety law. Under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, which further amended the Federal Civil Penalties, Inflation Adjustment Act of…...
Is there such a thing as a “dual phase” pressure safety valve (PSV)? Not that I have ever encountered; yet that does not stop some from trying to “educate me” on their dual-phase PSVs. So why does this topic matter? Our PSV’s are our LAST LINE of defense in an overpressure event, and if they…...
At approximately 9:30 a.m. on October 3, 2002, an employee who worked for a company that provided vehicle maintenance such as car washes, detailing, fueling, and lube and oil servicing, inadvertently drank acid from a plastic spray bottle while he was on a rest break. The employee, feeling very ill after ingesting the contents of…...
On April 15, 2014, Employee #1, a maintenance technician employed by Solarworld Industries America Inc., and Coworker #1, a tool operator in the plant’s fabrication area, were working at the employer’s solar cell manufacturing facility. Coworker #1 had submitted a work order to repair a leak of liquid hydrofluoric acid (HF). HF is used in…...
This week we saw a construction vehicle strike a fill valve of an underground propane tank. The valve was not only unprotected, it was actually camouflaged by a large plastic trash can that sat over top of it. The valves for the 1000 gallon tank were struck by a construction vehicle which led to an active and…...
In my Process Safety, HAZMAT, and Emergency Response course, I always walk the students through an exercise to demonstrate just how dangerous chemicals such as Cl2 and NH3 are. So many have come to believe that these chemicals are hazardous only when we exceed the OSHA/EPA Thresholds for PSM/RMP. In a 40 ft × 40…...
In my Process Safety, HAZMAT, and Emergency Response course, I always walk the students through an exercise to demonstrate just how dangerous chemicals such as Cl2 and NH3 are. So many have come to think that these chemicals are only hazardous when we exceed the OSHA/EPA Thresholds for PSM/RMP. In a space that is 40…...
Anyone who has taken one of my HAZMAT or Process Safety training courses has heard about and seen video of the Atlas Foundry LPG BLEVE that occurred back in 2007. But in a recent process safety course, several students (volunteer FF’s outside of their full time job at this PSM facility) debated on the facts…...
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has been made aware of concerns regarding newly adopted requirements in Section 180.209(e) of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180). Prior to a January 21, 2016 Final Rule [Docket No. PHMSA-2013-0042 (HM-233F)], the requalification period corresponding to volumetric expansion testing…...
At approximately 10:15 a.m. on May 30, 2012 a 46-year-old truck driver was making a routine delivery of sanitation chemicals to a milk packaging plant. The plant purchases their sanitation chemicals through a nationally recognized clean-in-place chemical provider and the chemicals are delivered by a local chemical trucking company. Employee #1 (truck driver) delivered…...
This is a 24,000-gallon fuel tank that floated out of the ground due to extremely high ground water levels and low fuel level inside the tank. Laws of physics will win every time! I do wonder what would have happened had a car been parked over the tank when it broke free and floated to the…...
PHMSA 36-16 Thursday, December 15, 2016 PHMSA Issues Safety Advisory on Use of DOT-39 Cylinders for Liquefied Flammable Compressed Gas. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (U.S. DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a safety advisory informing offerors or anyone using a DOT Specification 39 (DOT-39) cylinder that cylinders with an internal volume…...
