In the past several years, I have had the pleasure of working on some fascinating start-ups. But the one thing they all have in common is that their ladders do not meet the new ladder standard, 1910.23. Ladders still have cages, not a fall arrest system, etc. The other thing that drives me crazy is…...
Of the four crewmembers involved in the incident, two are deceased. The other two crewmembers are reported to be in stable condition. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Southeast Alaska command center in Juneau received a mayday call at 9:14 a.m. Sunday that the crew of the tug vessel Chukchi Sea lost contact with four…...
Respondent has six regulated substances present at the Facility:anhydrous ammonia, carbon disulfide, 2-butene, 3-butadiene, propylene, and ethyl mercaptan. Respondent’s Facility manufactures sulfuric acid and regenerates spent sulfuric acid, meeting the definition of “process”, as defined by 40 C.F.R. § 68.3. Respondent has a quantity of the aforementioned chemicals greater than the threshold. ALLEGED VIOLATIONS TrainingOf…...
On September 25, 2024, an incident at the Facility resulted in an accidental release. EPA sent an informal questionnaire to the respondent on April 17, 2025. Respondent provided documentation and information on June 9, 2025. Based on the response provided on June 9, 2025, EPA conducted an investigation of the Facility to determine Respondent’s compliance…...
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide interim enforcement guidance on certain handrail and stair rail system requirements under 29 CFR 1910.28(b) and 1910.29(f) to allow employers to comply with proposed changes until the effective date of any new final rule resulting from the 2021 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). This memorandum replaces the…...
I have written about it countless times: putting a flange together is, in many ways, more difficult than welding the pipes together. But many businesses don’t want to pay the rates for Certified Welders and Inspectors and believe their own people can do the piping work simply by using flanges rather than welds. “It’s common…...
We see many compressed gas cylinders of Asphyxiants in labs within large industrial facilities. We even see these labs increasing their quantities and moving to using Dewars (cryogenic liquid storage) to store their asphyxiants. These dewars are a massive game-changer, as both Liquid N2 and Liquid Ar have expansion ratios of 1:700 and 1:860, respectively…....
A couple of weeks ago, I had a poll in my FB Group asking: Is a personal single-gas detector necessary within our breathing zone when wearing an Air Purifying Respirator in a potential IDLH atmosphere? For example, responding to a leak alarm for an NH3 or Cl2 leak. And as usual, the group did NOT…...
For those who need an image of why 1 psig can be a lethal hazardous energy source! It’s why we say ZERO ENERGY STATE (ZES) in our control of hazardous energy programs. ONLY ZERO = ZERO! SAFTENG members can download the image without a watermark at SAFTENG… Membership Required You must be a member to...
We have all heard it and seen the countless banners/signs proclaiming “safety first”. And I have at least 50 shocker photos at SAFTENG of some crazy, unsafe acts caught while hanging such proclamations. I worked for some bosses who I had no doubt were dedicated to worker safety, and none of them liked the “safety…...
I recently worked on a project with three (3) processes built by three (3) different contractors from three (3) different countries. This business is located in the USA, and the other countries are South Korea, Japan, and China. As you can imagine, we (the USA) use the imperial units of measure, and these other countries…...
Most safety pros live by the LOTO standard daily, or at least weekly! If not, you may need to re-evaluate where you are spending your time! As there is no other standard that impacts manufacturing businesses and brings more value to our safety efforts than does LOTO (IMPO). So this question gets to the heart…...
