An arc flash incident occurred during electrical maintenance activities on a 480V motor control center (MCC) aboard a fixed offshore facility in the Gulf of America on March 21, 2025. Two contractor technicians were troubleshooting a tripped MCC bucket Figure 2) when an arc flash occurred. One technician, despite wearing Category 2 arc-rated Personal Protective…...
Cal/OSHA’s Bureau of Investigations referred the case to Los Angeles County District Attorney after double fatality A food company pleaded guilty to two (2) misdemeanor counts after being criminally charged in connection with the 2020 deaths of two (2) workers fatally exposed to nitrogen gas. The victims died after a malfunction in the facility’s nitrogen…...
Launched in 2017, this Chemical Accident Risk Reduction National Enforcement and Compliance Initiative (NECI) seeks to reduce risks to human health and the environment by decreasing the likelihood of chemical accidents. This will be achieved by addressing significant noncompliance with the general duty to maintain a safe environment and risk management plan rules. Given the…...
I still do about a dozen 24 or 40-hr HAZMAT Tech courses and dozens of 8-hr Refreshers each year. And in each class, it never fails that someone will ask the question… Does OSHA/EPA actually require that? Backstory: I’ve been on the ERT for 20 years, and this is the first time I’ve heard this…....
Back to an old question that continues to be asked… Are chemicals in a tank car exempt from threshold determinations under 40 CFR Part 68 (RMP)? The definition of stationary source does not apply to transportation, including storage incident to transportation (40 CFR Section 68.3). Are chemicals in a tank car (e.g., tanker truck or…...
OSHA was asked… whether the use of LED (light emitting diode) red light therapy and red light therapy wraps constitute first aid for purposes of OSHA recordkeeping regulations, and also whether this technology could be added to the list of first aid treatments under section 1904.7(b)(5)(ii). OSHA’s response is:… Membership Required You must be a...
On January 30, 2025, Employee #1 was working at a trailer truck wash business and had been subcontracted to clean out a trailer tank using a water hose. The business specialized in washing out livestock haulers. Employee #1 entered the tank to continue cleaning. A coworker noticed Employee #1 lying on his side at the…...
UPDATED on 8/8/25 with OSHA Citations (All are being contested) At approximately 9:34 a.m. on January 10, 2025, an employee, 35, was directed to enter a 23,737-gallon rail tank car containing residues of PCBs and transformer oil to obtain wipe samples of the interior surfaces. The rail tank car was a permit-required confined space. The…...
Disclaimer: I am NO LONGER a fan of Powered-Air Purifying Respirators (PAPRs). It is not the PAPR’s fault; it is the science behind the increased desire to use PAPRs for all the wrong reasons and how this could be bad news for the users. PAPRs have become increasingly popular over the past decade or so…...
Auditing! Whether it’s internal (1st party), 2nd party, or 3rd Party, auditing at a CONSISTENT FREQUENCY is a true sign that management is committed to safety. If the management team asks… “Does OSHA require this audit?”… Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in here...
This aspect of respiratory protection is a SAFETY CRITICAL path when using Air Purifying Respirators (APRs), and in my experience, it is rarely done correctly when it is done at all. I teach my program administrators to do precisely what NIOSH has been stating since 2004. When using the Change Out software, use 1 ppm…...
Vapor pressure: Pressure exerted by a saturated vapor above its liquid in a closed container. Three facts are important to remember:… Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in here...
