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. …...
A worker at a milk packaging plant operated by a large supermarket chain lost four fingers while operating a molding machine that lacked the required safeguards. OSHA investigated the Feb. 12 incident and cited the business for two (2) willful and five (5) serious violations and one (1) other than serious violation for: Failing to…...
Line Breaking and Equipment Opening (LEO) hazards are oftentimes not well recognized or respected, even in PSM/RMP-covered processes. Once we are removed from a “covered process,” the lack of recognition and lack of respect only increases. But in my career, some of the more serious accidents involving LEO on lines/equipment did NOT involve processes covered…...
This is a fascinating case, as the OSHRC has upheld this citation, although they significantly reduced the $ and made it “other-than-serious.” But again, I disagree with this case, as the workers appeared to have been protected during the belt change; they did not follow the LOTO procedure, which I believe was “lazily written.” This…...
At 6:52 p.m. on August 10, 2020, three (3) employees attempted to remove a clog from a hydrolyzed. A hydrolyzed apparatus is used to conduct the hydrolysis reaction in starch. The employees were unable to get the steam to release from the pressure vessel. Employee #1, a senior maintenance worker, made the decision to open…...
In a lot of older plants, personnel who are locking out equipment are not granted the convenience of a “local electrical disconnect,” meaning they have to use what I call “knife disconnects” such as this: Or do we make the qualified electrical workers the “gatekeepers” of all electrical LOTO, and thus only they operate these…...
While cleaning an auger used to rice potatoes, a 39-year-old production worker found her left arm caught in a running auger. The worker suffered multiple lacerations and a partial amputation of her arm. Co-workers had to cut the auger apart to free her arm. An investigation in September 2020 by OSHA determined that the business…...
A manual ΒΌ turn ball valve (#1) was the lead isolation valve in a Double Block and Bleed arrangement. The valve handle was incorrectly secured using a run of pipe BELOW the valve. As shown, the valve handle would swing down in order to OPEN the valve. With the chain securing the valve on the…...
Scenario: A piece of equipment has twelve (12) energy sources, which must be isolated to get the piece of equipment down to a zero energy state (ZES). I have a task that will expose me to ONLY 1 of these 12 energy sources – can I just lockout the one (1) source or must I…...
Most facilities will have a piece of equipment that is so large and complex that it will entail isolating many sources of all types of energy in order to get the entire system to a zero energy state (ZES). But what do we do when we have a task that involves exposure to only one…...
This is SIGNIFICANT for those who truly believe in the purpose and function of OSHA’s LOTO standard. I was never more disappointed in an ALJ than after they decided to vacate such a clear violation of LOTO. I may have even said, “Why do lawyers/judges make for bad safety professionals.” This fatality involved an apprentice…...
Have you ever been told… “it moves too slow to be a hazard”? If you stay in the safety profession long enough, you will be presented with this viewpoint. But LOTO is NEVER about how slow something moves; there is no exemption in the standard for such a thing. Here is a case we can…...
