If you have ever taught a LOTO course, you know that you will always get the questions… “Is ___ psi a hazardous energy source?”. Regardless of the gas’s inherent hazard(s), we should always answer by saying “Zero = Zero,” and in LOTO, we are required to achieve a zero energy state. So, any psi of […]
How did you spend your Friday night and Saturday? Me? I spent mine helping a client manage a traumatic injury to a new employee with less than 3-weeks on the job. And like most employers, this company truly cares about their employees and honestly wants the best for their employees. This business may be the
Why so many try to make such a simple safety process so difficult has puzzled me for years! Even in Group LOTO, each employee is protected by the LOTO MUST have EXCLUSIVE CONTROL of the devices protecting them. It is that simple. This organization should be embarrassed for asking these questions, especially when their scenarios
World-class safety can be summed up in this manner… The ability to recognize a serious hazard that can be controlled by an existing safe work practice that is in place for complying with a different OSHA standard. If you’re a process safety engineer/practitioner you have dealt with “line break/process opening” for your Highly Hazardous Chemicals
At 6:05 p.m. on March 3, 2021, an employee, 27, was clearing jammed mulch from a mulch coloring machine. The employee disconnected the power from the machine, entered the hopper, and began removing mulch. The employee exited the hopper, restored power, and restarted the machine. The employee reentered the machine a second time WITHOUT DISCONNECTING
Seriously, in the year 2021/2022, we still have these questions asked of OSHA about a standard that has been in place since the mid-1980s. Scenario 1: Three (3) authorized employees are working on a pump. Each energy source is de-energized and locked out by an employee in plant operations. Then, the plant operations employee places
OSHA once again clarifies that locking out the air source to a pneumatically powered control valve is NOT locking the energy isolation device! When I taught at ASSP Seminarfest several years ago, the most disputed point was this very practice. I was very clear, which did not sit well with some attendees, that locking the
Rotary valves/airlocks (rotary valves) are devices with close-fitting, revolving blades/vanes installed inside industrial equipment to control the flow of materials through a process (see Figure 1). Rotary valves are used in many industries and functions. A common example (Figure 2) is an airlock used in a pneumatic conveying system to dispense material while maintaining system
At 8:00 a.m. on March 15, 2021, Employee #1 removed, cleaned, prepared the surface and replaced the blow-in door gasket seals on the USS McFaul. The door was TAGGED OUT in the OPEN position; however, in this position, the pneumatic pressure and electric power could NOT be secured in its SAFE POSITION. While performing the
At 1:15 p.m. on 11/3/2020, a worker employed by an HVAC company, was working at a customer’s commercial facility. He was in the process of removing a coupler and blind from the intake header of an air dryer. The employee did NOT first relieve the air pressure from the header.
At 9:45 a.m. on December 11, 2020, an employee was preparing to do maintenance on a natural gas (NG) compressor. The compressor was not prepared for maintenance correctly (e.g., not LOTO’ed properly), pressure built up, and an engine cap struck the employee on the head.
In the 90s, I was working a turn-around at a sister facility and learned the niftiest trick related to Double Block and Bleed (DB&B). When the isolation valves and the bleed valve were nearby (i.e., a couple of feet or less) of each other, they would use just a single lock to secure the isolation.
