I was first exposed to the “The Warm Fuzzy Tale” by Claude M. Steiner (1969) in my first organizational psychology course at Murray State Univesity in 1990. At the time, with zero actual field experience in safety, I thought it was hyperbole, academic nonsense, etc. But once I got into fieldwork, beginning with my first […]
One of my favorite safety sayings came from Dr. William (Bill) Corcoran from the USA’s Nuclear Safety Program. He firmly believed that latent failures were more to blame for accidents than human errors. And he proved this over a distinguished career of 50+ years in nuclear engineering with a major slant towards nuclear safety through
Whenever I think about Routine and Situational violations, my mind goes back to my childhood days when Life cereal came out. The commercial involved two older kids talking about the cereal, and neither wanted to try it. And there sat little Mikey, so they pushed the bowl over to Mikey and said, “let’s get Mikey
We have all heard the story of the three little pigs and their construction decisions impacting their futures. It is a sad fable that needs to be told often and even to adults who do not understand “latent failures”! But in this article, I want to have you think about three (3) mountains an organization
Think about it… Here are the ten (10) elements of your SMS. Of course, we want all 10 to perform in the bulls-eye, but we know safety is a continuous improvement project that takes years. Which process (Target A or Target B) is more advanced, more capable of achieving the desired results, and the one
We see it just about every day; heck, we even see it with safety people… not properly rolling, lifting, inserting, and holding their hearing protection as they insert them. But noise is a “chronic” hazard and thus far too many workplaces fail to respect it. Unfortunately, in the vast majority of projects, we have completed
How did you spend your Friday night and Saturday? Me? I spent mine helping a client manage a traumatic injury to a new employee with less than 3-weeks on the job. And like most employers, this company truly cares about their employees and honestly wants the best for their employees. This business may be the
EPA is proposing to require all facilities with Program 2 and 3 processes to conduct a root cause analysis as part of an incident investigation for an RMP-reportable accident as defined under 40 CFR 68.42. This includes requiring the root cause analysis to include specific elements, requiring the use of a recognized investigation method, and
EPA is proposing a requirement in 40 CFR 68.67(c)(9) for some Program 3 regulated processes to consider and document the feasibility of applying safer technologies and alternatives as part of their PHA. This requirement applies to petroleum and coal products manufacturing processes (classified in NAICS code 324) and chemical manufacturing processes (NAICS code 325) that
The location of stationary sources, and the location and configuration of regulated processes and equipment within a source, can significantly affect the severity of an accidental release. The location of the stationary source in relation to public and environmental receptors may exacerbate the impacts of an accidental release, such as blast overpressures or concentrations of
Respondent is the owner and operator of a frozen foods processing facility that includes anhydrous ammonia storage tanks, valves, piping, compressors, freezer tunnels, and other buildings, structures, equipment, installations, or substance-emitting stationary activities from which an accidental release of anhydrous ammonia may occur; which belong to the same industrial group; which are located on one
Whether caused by a natural hazard or some other event, power loss at hazardous chemical facilities can lead to a variety of negative impacts. Pumps and compressors may stop running, stirrers may quit mixing, lights may go out, and instruments and controls may malfunction. These equipment outages can lead to tank overflows, runaway chemical reactions,
