Current Statistics To date, DHS has received more than 88,258 Top-Screen submissions from more than 40,000 unique facilities. Of these, the CFATS program currently covers 3,441 facilities. These high-risk facilities are divided into four tiers, with Tier 1 facilities posing the highest security risk. CFATS Activities It is important to note that this regulatory program […]
Well, since I am writing about it, you have probably already know the correct answer. But where does this requirement originate? OSHA Standard(s), OSHA’s General Duty Clause, EPA standards, or… Yep, you guessed it – the International Fire Code (IFC). Granted, the IFC is not heavily enforced BEFORE accidents, but most states have adopted the
Is your fire water is a “protection/mitigation” safeguard in your Process Safety program? Most covered processes, whether toxic or flammable, will utilize firewater as a “critical utility” to help protect/mitigate a release and/or fire from the process. When this is the case, our fire water system (reservoir(s), pump(s), fire water piping, hydrants, monitor nozzles, etc.)
If you work in a state/county/town/township that has a “fire code” inspector, how would your facility measure up to these Top Citations for Group H Occupancies? By the way, here is an excellent summary of the five sub-groups in Group H: High-hazard Group H-1 buildings and structures which contain materials that pose a detonation (explosion)
Recently we were performing an audit at a clients facility in which we had done the previous 3-year PSM/RMP audit. And during that prior audit, we observed a damaged hydrant that had been out of service for several months, and we came across another instance where the facility identified another hydrant that was damaged; both
Industrial FATALITY Contractor Killed in Accident at BMW’s South Carolina Plant (contractor died in what appears to be a workplace accident in the paint shop of a vehicle plant) FATALITY Worker Dies at Plywood Mill in Southern Oregon (worker, 57, died in an accident at a plywood plant – he had worked for the company
This week’s video shows us the importance of “chocking” when we are loading/Unloading hazardous materials. I am not quite sure what happened, other than it appears the parking brake failed or was not set (although it appears it failed again after the first attempt to stop the truck). But a simple “chock” would have saved
On 3/28/2016, for reasons unknown, the EPA withdrew its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) regarding possible modifications to reportable quantities. The NPRM was submitted on 3/6/2018.
Recently I was working with one of my flammable liquid clients who recently hired some new engineers who needed some flammable liquids training. During my 1-day “Flammable Liquids 101” course we touch on those flammable liquids that are “non-conductive,” and as usual this caused quite a stir among the attendees. Most of the attendees, including
Respondent is a municipality in the state of Nebraska, which owns and operates a Water Treatment Plant. Information gathered during the EPA inspection revealed that Respondent had greater than 2,500 pounds of chlorine in a process at its facility. From the time Respondent first had on site greater than 2,500 pounds of chlorine in a
This topic is a bit off, but for some reason, this issue is trending in our RMP/PSM audit findings. We have been finding this since we began performing RMP audits in the 2002-2003 time frame, but the numbers are trending up. Now, this is NOT about a “hazardous condition,” but in almost all our cases,
I am guessing we may be having this debate for the next 20-30 years, as before OSHA revised their HAZCOM standard to the Globally Harmonized version we were still debating the requirements of the original HAZCOM standard up to the day it got changed (e.g., 30+years). But it seems there are companies benefiting from the
