This tragedy is a sad example of why OSHA says… Entry … is considered to have occurred as soon as any part of the entrant’s body breaks the plane of an opening into the space. I am not sold on MSHA’s Root Cause Analysis, but we can all learn a lot from this tragedy and […]
With all the noise in safety these days, I find it refreshing to just focus on the fundamentals and have management set targets on these fundamentals. For example, take a random safety walk on Monday and focus on Container Labeling. Count all the containers evaluated, count all the containers that were NOT labeled in any
I like to tell clients that NFPA has done what OSHA failed to do… make Combustible Dust a PSM-covered process. Well, not exactly, but NFPA 660 has certainly advanced how we manage the risks associated with Combustible Dusts. The new (2026) NFPA 660 has the following SMS elements:
Once again, auditing pays off! No way in heck, my audits should be the method to identify QA failures on a piping installation, but it seems the past 10 years or so, it’s happening more and more. This event was a significant failure on the General Contractor and the Sub-Contractor, who was doing the actual
A fire broke out at a multi-story automated parking structure within BYD’s Pingshan Park in Shenzhen, China, at approximately 2:48 a.m. on April 14, 2026. Preliminary investigations by local authorities and BYD indicated that the fire was caused by an outside contractor’s improper handling of dismantling/welding equipment, which ignited insulation cotton and other combustible materials
Equinor has completed its internal investigation into the workplace accident at Mongstad on 17 September 2025, in which a worker lost his life. The purpose has been to ensure learning and to identify measures that can strengthen safety in crane and lifting operations across the company. The accident occurred during the lifting of heat exchangers
Around 7:11 p.m. on the 16th, a pressure tank exploded during an inspection at a pressure tank manufacturing plant. The accident killed a worker in his 50s who was struck by flying pressure tank components and later died at a hospital despite being transported for treatment. He was reportedly inspecting a transformer pressure tank manufactured
Under the International Fire Code (IFC), N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) is not classified as a “Toxic” or “Highly Toxic” material. While NMP is legally classified as a toxic substance under environmental and labor laws (such as the EPA’s TSCA and OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard) due to its health effects, the IFC uses a very specific, narrow definition
I’m in Grand Rapids this week working with a client on a flammable liquids process that is under the PSM TQ, but over the Maximum Allowable Quantity for “outside”. The city began adopting the IFC in 2006 and is now using the 2021 edition. I am sharing the PPT file for the management presentation/training, if
The short answer is NO, but if we do, there’s a significant catch regarding its protection rating. Under OSHA standards (29 CFR 1910.134), you are technically allowed to perform a Qualitative Fit Test (QLFT) on a full-face respirator, but doing so limits its Assigned Protection Factor (APF) to 10. Here is the breakdown of why
The short answer is no. Radiographic Testing (RT) and pressure testing (Hydrostatic or Pneumatic) serve two (2) fundamentally different purposes in piping integrity. While it might seem like “over-testing,” they are not interchangeable in ASME B31.3 (Process Piping) or ASME B31.1 (Power Piping). Here is the breakdown of why 100% RT does not exempt you
Two (2) sanitation workers were killed, and a third was hospitalized in critical condition after they inhaled toxic fumes while cleaning a sewer line. The incident took place around 10.30 pm. The workers were employees of the local Municipality. “Preliminary investigation revealed that the first worker entered the sewer and failed to come out for a
