Although this serious injury incident occurred at a car wash, the decision of the OSHRC on guarding the chain conveyor and the workers having to work around it due to a change in work practices is an interesting take on “exposure to a hazard”. If you have ever gone to a car wash that requires […]
On May 23, 2018, at 0010 local time, a fire was detected in a cargo hold on board the cargo ship Chipolbrok Moon while moored at the Industrial Terminal West in Greens Bayou in the Port of Houston, Texas. Some of the vessel’s 24 crewmembers had completed hot work in that space about 25 minutes
Here we have three (3) chemical labels, each one very different from the other and all three have a different agency/organization that oversees their use. All three (3) are for the Category 3 Flammable Liquid Xylene, CAS# 1330-20-7. The question is… Does it matter where/how these three (3) labels are used on containers of Xylene? I
For the SAFTENG members This is my 2019 version of the GHS HAZCOM and Behavior of Hazardous Materials training ppt. The course does what I like to call “Compliance to Science”; it covers OSHA’s GHS requirements and then gets into the behaviors of hazardous materials. The course is intended to ensure that users of SDS’s
Sprinklers save lives and they save billions of dollars each year from fire losses; however, if a head is activated accidentally, we can suffer serious damage from all the water and the downtime. So protecting our heads from accidental discharge is as important as protecting them from contamination and delayed activation. In this article, I
Here is a look at OSHA’s Emergency Action Plan (1910.38) compliance activity in 2018 (October 2017 – September 2018). As you can see, OSHA issued 80 citations from 66 inspections for a total of $155,698 in fines. Here is a quick breakdown of activity: 49311 / General Warehousing and Storage with 4 citations totaling $21,878 32221 / Paperboard Container
Here is a look at OSHA’s Employee Emergency Alarm (1910.165) compliance activity in 2018 (October 2017 – September 2018). As you can see, OSHA found issues with complying with this standard on 10 inspections and issued 10 citations for a total of $17,147 in fines. Here is a quick breakdown of activity: 49111 / Postal Service with 2 citations
In our daily work as safety professionals, we are guided by a lot of codes, standards, regulations, and rules that are intended to establish a baseline, albeit a minimum level of risk control. These codes, standards, regulations, and rules can be confusing to many who tried to read or interpret what the agency/group intends with their requirements.
At 11:30 a.m. on January 23, 2018, an employee was moving product in a freezer with a forklift. The forklift struck UNPROTECTED refrigeration piping, breaking a valve and releasing anhydrous ammonia. The employee’s face, eyes, and chest were exposed to the anhydrous ammonia and the employee was hospitalized.
Over the past four (4) years, I have been involved in an industry that I would have never thought would be some of my Process Safety clients and over these same four years, I have come to feel sorry for an entire industry. This industry was forced to change to an alternative chemical in order
This morning, we had some serious weather pass through the Cincinnati area, and many areas lost power. Ironically, I was conversing with a client in MI about emergency lighting inspections when the power at the facility where I am this week went out. Of course, this facility’s emergency lighting activated and worked properly, so employees
Background: Your company has an internal communication method to communicate the identity of hazardous chemicals transported on company vehicles from one location to another location within the same building (intra-plant). This method uses words, pictures, and/or product identification number, NFPA, HMIS, or DOT identifiers. The company also uses this communication method when transporting hazardous chemicals
