Over the past several years, I have attempted to convince the SAFTENG members that an Evaporative Condenser in an Ammonia refrigeration process is indeed a Permit-Required Confined Space. Earlier this year, the IIAR published one of my articles on this topic, hoping to educate the industry about this life safety topic. I think we have…...
NOT only was this worker welding, but he/she had also used a flammable liquid to clean the spot they wanted to weld and then kept the OPEN bucket of flammable liquid right at the point of work. When they struck the arc, the vapors in the bucket ignited and the worker kicked the bucket of…...
At 5:48 a.m. on November 5, 2019, an employee was working for a trucking firm that hauled refined fuel products. He was pumping fuel from a portable tank back into his tanker truck by top-loading (e.g. SPLASH FILLING). The fuel involved was a mixture of gasoline and diesel fuel (both NON-conductive flammable liquids). The employee…...
At 12:00 p.m. on November 5, 2019, Employee #1 was making a small spot weld on a piece of metal. He was performing the weld on a drum that contained windshield washer fluid, a CATEGORY 3 Flammable Liquid. There was an explosion, and the drum hit the employee’s face. Liquid splashed on the employee and…...
On February 18, 2020, the audible alarm and light outside the Ammonia plant was activated at approximately 6:40 pm. The plant operator checked the NH3 (ammonia) readings and it read 43 ppm (parts per million). At 6:45 pm the readings increased to 51ppm and staff activated the Emergency Response Plan, contacted 911, the Chief Engineer,…...
Two persons received minor injuries from exposure to ammonia after a refrigeration system failed and released ammonia that was intended to be contained within the evaporator and refrigeration system. INCIDENT OVERVIEW The evaporator within a refrigeration system of an industrial food processing facility failed and released ammonia in a cold storage room. Two workers suffered…...
This new Instruction establishes OSHA’s field inspection and enforcement procedures designed to ensure uniformity when addressing respirable crystalline silica exposures in the workplace. These two new expanded health standards, general industry/maritime (29 CFR § 1910.1053) and construction (29 CFR § 1926.1153), were published in the Federal Register on March 25, 2016, and became effective June…...
Here is your scenario: You are evaluating a city water tank/tower. So you ask the following three questions… (1) Is large enough and so configured that an employee can bodily enter and perform assigned work; and (2) Has limited or restricted means for entry or exit (for example, tanks, vessels, silos, storage bins, hoppers, vaults,…...
This may cause anger in some, but it must be said in these crazy times… To claim any level of respiratory protection, the respirator MUST BE: NIOSH/MSHA approved, AND FIT-TESTED using an OSHA prescribed protocol, AND the user must be properly trained in its use and limitations. Thus a “face covering” that is NOT MANAGED…...
If you have not seen it yet, just wait and one of your anti-mask friends will be sure to share it with you. My phone blew up this weekend from e-mails, texts, and FB messengers from friends concerned with what they saw before their very eyes. I tried to explain what they were seeing, but…...
In recent years, offshore operators on the Outer Continental Shelf have reported multiple flash-fire incidents that resulted in injuries and damage to facilities. Investigations found that static discharge was a contributing factor in each of the incidents. Flash-fire incidents occurred during multiple types of operations, including maintenance on a control panel when natural gas was…...
In January 2020, a wheeled fire extinguisher failed to operate because of a blockage in the siphon tubing line. This failure resulted in two personnel requiring medical evaluation and led to a delay in extinguishing a fire. An investigation of the fire extinguisher failure found that the device pressured up as intended, but the moisture…...
