Safety Info Posts

Working from Home and OSHA

NOTE:  Under our Pandemic, my bet OSHA is not going to enforce a lot of this, but I thought it would be a timely reminder as I have received numerous questions about working from home. The OSH Act applies to work performed by an employee in any workplace within the United States, including a workplace…...

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EPA RMP GDC citations @ refrigerated warehouse and storage facilities (NH3 & $179K)

Section 112 (r)(1) of the Act, commonly referred to as the General Duty Clause addresses the prevention of releases of substances listed pursuant to Section 112(r)(3) ofthe Act, or any other extremely hazardous substance. The purpose of this section is to prevent the accidental release of extremely hazardous substances and to minimize the consequences of…...

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EPA required to issue rules requiring hazardous substance spill-prevention and response planning in the next 2 years

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has approved a consent decree between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform, Clean Water Action, and Natural Resources Defense Council. The consent decree requires EPA to issue long-overdue rules requiring robust hazardous substance spill-prevention and…...

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Hand sanitizers that have 60% Alcohol are Category 3 FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS

When your hand sanitizer has 50% more Alcohol it will be at least a Category 3 Flammable Liquid – just review the SDS for your product of choice if you doubt me.  In fact, some hand sanitizers with higher Alcohol percentages may be a Category 2 Flammable Liquid.  In the light of COVID-19 virus pandemic,…...

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OSHA’s Incidental storage or use of flammable liquids (.106)(e)

Earlier this year I wrote an article about the International Fire Code (IFC) and its practice of limiting flammable liquids outside of proper storage means, such as cabinets and rooms. In that article I posted the OSHA requirements but did not explain how the OSHA requirements applied to workplaces, rather I chose to use the…...

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Safety warning after inadvertent activation of condensed aerosol fire extinguishing system leads to a fatality

The bulletin sets out the key precautions require to protect personnel from this hazard: MAIB safety bulletin 1-2020: Resurgam Inadvertent discharge of a condensed aerosol fire extinguishing system during its installation onboard the fishing vessel Resurgam (PZ 1001) on November 15, 2019, with loss of 1 life. Recommendation FirePro has been recommended (S2020/114) to issue…...

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Near Miss: Fire blanket caught fire during third-party hot work

What happened? While conducting a fire watch round on a vessel in port, a 2nd mate noticed that a fire blanket on the midships fire hose box had caught fire. He immediately reported this to the Bridge and used an extinguisher to put the fire out. What went wrong? The fire started after a third-party…...

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Styrene polymerization caused ship explosions during transfer (Marine Accident Investigation Branch)

Styrene has been a chemical I just can not seem to get away from.  I dealt with it throughout my career in the petro-chem industry and now as a consultant, I have a number of clients who use this flammable liquid in a number of different processes.  In 2005 I was consulted about a leaking…...

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An organization’s approach to auditing says a lot about its safety maturity

Independent, systematic audits check that risk-control systems and management arrangements within the Safety Management System (SMS) are effective.  An audit is an independent, systematic check of risk-control safeguards and the SMS to ensure business objectives are met. An audit can be an internal audit (first party, conducted by the organization) or an external audit (second…...

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Can we scare employees into working safely – after what I observed this week I am back to thinking… maybe!

SAFTENG is 25 years old this year and from day 1, the most popular materials have been the graphic injury/accident photos.  In my early years, I used them myself, but as I gained more experience and became a follower of Dr. Scott Geller I began to reshape my views on “shock safety”.  He convinced me…...

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EPA EPCRA/CERCLA citations @ food processing facility (8,619 pound NH3 release & $63K)

Respondent is engaged in business at the Facility at which a hazardous chemical is produced, used, or stored. On March 13, 2017, EPA conducted an inspection of the Facility to ascertain Respondent’s compliance with Section 103 of CERCLA and Sections 302-304 and 311 -312 of EPCRA. During and following the Inspection, Respondent submitted information to…...

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Compressed Gas Cylinders, OSHA and your AHJ with the IFC

Have you taken the 3 minutes to read OSHA’s expansive Compressed Gas Standard 1910.101?  After all, the standard is three sections long and references Compressed Gas Association (CGA) pamphlets that are no longer in print.  One of the most requested standards I get from SAFTENG members and clients is for CGA P-1 (1965): Safe Handling…...

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