Maybe I’m just old school, but I have seen a strong focus on the safety fundamentals make tremendous progress in both performance and culture. Once we have milked the fundamentals for all they have to offer, then (maybe) our management system and culture will have matured to a point where we could manage a nice…...
Maybe I’m just old school Read More »
A Delaware corporation with a manufacturing facility in Ohio pleaded guilty in federal court in the Southern District of Ohio to a charge of willfully violating an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rule. The criminal charge is related to an incident where an employee was killed when a pneumatic door closed on his head…....
A broken valve handle leads to a class B misdemeanor criminal charge Read More »
This United States Coast Guard alert supports my expectation that we must demarcate our HAZLOCs. I usually get pushback as the code does not explicitly require the boundaries of our HAZLOCs to be marked in any way. But in reality, if we want workers to respect the hazards of working inside a HAZLOC, then we…...
IMPORTANCE OF HAZARDOUS ZONE MARKINGS AND SAFETY PROTOCOL AWARENESS (USCG) Read More »
NIOSH research tells us: Source: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/pdfs/Fit-test-10.508_FNL-508.pdf… Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in here...
Respirator Fit-Testing Facts (NIOSH) Read More »
Initial findings in an employee’s death show breathing air was compromised while working in a paint booth after the breathing air system unintentionally allowed nitrogen to get into the system. The worker, 61, was found not breathing just after noon on Feb. 24 in a paint booth. This incident occurred in the same area where…...
Nitrogen in the breathing air system Read More »
The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA) acted within its authority when it adopted rules strengthening safety and health requirements for agricultural labor housing (ALH), the Oregon Department of Justice (DOJ) has confirmed in written legal advice. The legal advice clears away any potential doubt about the division’s authority to enforce its amended…...
Section 1910.255(e) requires that a periodic inspection of resistance welding equipment be made by qualified maintenance personnel and that a certification record be generated and maintained. The certification shall include:… Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in here...
Periodic inspection of resistance welding equipment Read More »
At 10:30 am, on October 16, 2023, Employee #1, 20, was working for a construction gas & oil support contractor. Coworkers were cutting and welding an eye-lifting plate on a compressor skid. A fire hazard consisting of miscellaneous petroleum products had been allowed to accumulate on, in, and around the compressor skid area…. Membership Required...
Fire Watch dies fighting flammable liquid fire ignited by cutting and welding Read More »
I think most EHS professionals will agree that bulk tanks of hazardous materials need some means of “secondary containment”. This practice has been in place for my entire career and rarely gets challenged. However, in recent years I have come across several scenarios where either the facility/unit designed the process to function this way or…...
Secondary Containment and “Equalization” of tanks Read More »
The explosion at an auto repair shop in Hillsboro, OH that claimed the lives of three (3) workers, aged 19, 33, and 47 in 2023 has been determined to have been caused by a rupture to an LPG cylinder that had been overfilled and past its requalification date by 33 years. I would also like…...
A video I posted over two years ago has come full circle. A citizen (some may call him homeless) was allowed to sit (and smoke) within 20′ of a gasoline tanker unloading operation at a gas station. His actions may not have been his sole demise, as we can see in the video evidence that…...
Failing to control flammable vapor results in severe injuries for by-stander (video) Read More »
Back in 2010, I posed the question… do the oxygen and acetylene cylinders that are being used to perform the Hot Work need to be 35′ away from the point of the Hot Work? For those who commented, it was clear they thought I was crazy. “It has never been enforced”, “I have been welding/cutting…...
Hot Work and the cylinders used and the 35′ rule (Video) Read More »
