Safety Info Posts

Your Air Receiver is a pressure vessel!

I think I can announce my retirement, as I have collected a nickel every time a safety professional stated “we have no pressure vessels on-site, so there is no need for us to worry”.  I am always saddened by the lack of understanding of major hazards within workplaces and the fact that so many in…...

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NFPA updates 499 (Combustible Dust) with a new definition of combustible flyings

NFPA updated NFPA 499: Recommended Practice for the Classification of Combustible Dusts and of Hazardous (Classified) Locations for Electrical Installations in Chemical Process Areas (2021 edition) with a revised definition of “combustible flyings”…. Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in here...

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Preventing Static Discharge (BSEE)

Flash-fire incidents occurred during multiple types of operations, including maintenance on a control panel when natural gas was being vented, flammable fluids being drained into a bucket, or flammable liquids being transferred between containers. A static discharge can occur when an electrical charge accumulates on the surfaces of two materials, one with a positive charge…...

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EPA RMP citations @ refinery (NH3 and Flammables & $191K after a release during SD)

Respondent is the owner and operator of the petroleum refinery. Respondent has filed RMPs with EPA since June 21, 1999, with its most recent filings on April 22, 2015, April 23, 2020, and September 2, 2020. The Facility has 14 Program 3 covered processes at the Facility. Each of these 14 covered processes has greater…...

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NFPA now recognizes ISA-RP12.12.03, Standard for PEPs

Way back in February 2016 I introduced many of you to ISA-RP12.12.03, Standard for Portable Electronic Products Suitable for Use in Class I and II, Division 2 for the first time and I received many e-mails, texts, and phone calls about those 2016 posts.  Although the posts were speaking to smaller electronic devices, most notably “fitness…...

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Pump cavitation demonstration (Video)

This is awesome. Cavitation has been the end of many pumps in my career and the causes of some significant LOPC events, but to see it be created and watch it in clear pipes and pumps is the way to learn. This short video should be in every operator’s training!!… Membership Required You must be...

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OSHA concludes that NFPA 58 (2017), Sections 6.28.2 and 6.28.3, do not provide an equivalent level of safety

This 2020 LOI rescinds the letter issued on July 25, 2019, to Ms. Hill, by removing the parenthetical in the second paragraph of the background section.  This is an interpretation regarding a possible conflict on the minimum separation distance between aboveground liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) containers and buildings in OSHA’s 29 CFR § 1910.110 –…...

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OSHA addresses on-line/virtual training methods once again!

Someone requested OSHA to address the growing field of virtual reality safety and health training. Their letter constitutes OSHA’s interpretation ONLY of the requirements herein, and may not be applicable to any questions not delineated in the original correspondence. Your paraphrased questions and our responses follow. Question: We have been told online, commercially available, training…...

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Electrical protective equipment – testing intervals for rubber insulating gloves

OSHA’s latest position on testing electrical gloves is very enlightening!  For example, even if the gloves are simply electrically tested and then returned to storage, OSHA regards the gloves as being issued for use!  This is a new one on me, but in their latest LOI they discuss the following scenario: gloves got tested on…...

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Do recommendations from the facility siting study report need to be included on the process hazard analysis (PHA) worksheet to be in compliance with .119(e)(5) and .119(e)(7)?

No, the employer is not required to include findings and recommendations from the facility siting study report in the same PHA worksheet or recommendations log to comply with 29 CFR § 1910.119(e)(5) and 29 CFR § 1910.119(e)(7)…. Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in here...

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Understanding the requirements from 1910.119(i)(2)(iii)

As I always say, we can not discuss MOC and PSSR as if they are separate systems… they go hand in hand 99% of the time.  That is what I want to discuss: how a PSSR requirement defines how we manage our MOC system.  We have discussed many times there are ONLY TWO (2) occasions…...

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Employee enters reactor and dies from fall after being overcome by VC vapors

At approximately 4:00 a.m. on March 29, 2020, an employee was installing a blind on a flange on a reactor. Then, the probe stem fell inside of the reactor, and the employee tried to fish it out. Using a ladder, the employee went inside the reactor that was NOT cleared for entry because the reactor…...

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