Respondent owned and operated a Natural Gas Processing facility, which produces, processes, stores, or handles more than 10,000 pounds of a flammable mixture, including pentane, isobutate, isopentane, butane, propane, and ethane in the form of natural gas, natmal gas liquids, condensate, and/or crude oil. Pentane, isobutate, isopentane, butane, propane, and ethane are identified at 40 […]
The CSB faces two management challenges that, if not addressed, may seriously impede the agency’s ability to achieve its mission efficiently and effectively. Based on our continuous audit work, the EPA OIG has identified two management challenges for the CSB that were not in the fiscal year 2017 report: the lack of authority that
UPDATED 2/16/2021 with OSHA Case File A couple of KEY POINTS in this EMA’s report out to the County Supervisors: Two weeks before this incident the County had conducted a drill at another NH3 facility that involved a rooftop NH3 leak (PREPAREDNESS) The release came from a 14″ diameter suction line on the roof of
Here is an unfortunate incident that draws our attention to operating elevating equipment inside refrigerated spaces. This incident also demonstrates the increased hazards to workers working within these elevated devices, as their means of egress, should there be a chemical release, is GREATLY compromised. Lastly, we should NOT lose sight of the fact that this
This week Facebook provided the usual ton of garbage available in the human race! This week a friend shared a posting about how Americans are calling Uber instead of an ambulance; not because Uber is faster, but because ambulance rides are so much more expensive. This was what appeared to be a legitimate hit piece
One of the things I find extremely unfair with EPA citations is that they are based on “revenue” of the business, as well as other factors. I like it when it is applied to a “for-profit” business, but it is disproportionately UNFAIR when it is applied to a public utility like a water treatment plant.
The Company owns and operates a fruit processing plant and controlled temperature storage warehouse, near a mixed business-residential area approximately one half mile northeast of a college campus and approximately one-half mile east of a downtown area. The facility uses anhydrous ammonia in a “closed-loop” refrigeration system. According to the Respondent, as of February 2,
For years, PHA’s seemed to always list vessel “relief systems” as a “safeguard” for ALL the HIGH-PRESSURE scenarios involving the vessel. In this article I want to challenge this practice; but to be up front, if you were to look at all my PHA’s I was guilty as sin for doing this very thing. But
As I have stated already this week, I am a HAZOP kind of guy. I have used just about every methodology under the sun over the past 25+ years, and I have come to a personal conclusion that in almost every occasion, a HAZOP would have been the best methodology to utilize for a correct
Earlier this week I posted about how a PHA should document its consideration of the engineering controls and administrative controls failing. And I said back in the 2013 posting; this little requirement is intended to make facilities dig past a single layer of protection and maybe even identify a lack of engineering and/or administrative controls
This is a follow-up to a previously posted case. An electrical contractor at a steel mill was in a danger zone when the mill technician began locking out the equipment. The LOTO procedure required some counterweights to be lowered to the ground (i.e., ZES). When the mill technician released the counterweight, an apprentice with the
