UPDATED on 8/8/25 with OSHA Citations (All are being contested) At approximately 9:34 a.m. on January 10, 2025, an employee, 35, was directed to enter a 23,737-gallon rail tank car containing residues of PCBs and transformer oil to obtain wipe samples of the interior surfaces. The rail tank car was a permit-required confined space. The…...
Disclaimer: I am NO LONGER a fan of Powered-Air Purifying Respirators (PAPRs). It is not the PAPR’s fault; it is the science behind the increased desire to use PAPRs for all the wrong reasons and how this could be bad news for the users. PAPRs have become increasingly popular over the past decade or so…...
Auditing! Whether it’s internal (1st party), 2nd party, or 3rd Party, auditing at a CONSISTENT FREQUENCY is a true sign that management is committed to safety. If the management team asks… “Does OSHA require this audit?”… Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in here...
This aspect of respiratory protection is a SAFETY CRITICAL path when using Air Purifying Respirators (APRs), and in my experience, it is rarely done correctly when it is done at all. I teach my program administrators to do precisely what NIOSH has been stating since 2004. When using the Change Out software, use 1 ppm…...
Vapor pressure: Pressure exerted by a saturated vapor above its liquid in a closed container. Three facts are important to remember:… Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in here...
Part 1: Is the act shown in the video an: Error? Mistake? Or Violation? Keep in mind that we all make errors, mistakes, and commit violations. Part 2: Which class of error, mistake, or violation? Tips to help:… Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in...
We can see some hazardous gases, even at low concentrations, such as Chlorine (Cl2). But some hazardous gases are “clear/invisible”. So, using Anhydrous Ammonia (NH3) as our hazardous gas… What does 300 ppm of Anhydrous Ammonia (NH3) look like? Note: 300 ppm is the IDLH for NH3 For example, there’s a release of NH3. You…...
During the summer of 2023, a potential explosion was averted at an industrial facility in Southern Ontario. A new printing press, not approved for use in Canada, was installed and started to signal operational issues during testing. Further complicating the matter, an unauthorized individual tampered with the gas meter set, creating an unsafe environment and…...
In the spring of 2024, emergency responders responded to an ammonia leak at a cold storage facility in southern Ontario. The incident occurred on the roof, where a corroded shut-off valve on the hot gas line of an ammonia center evaporator failed, resulting in the release of ammonia gas into the surrounding environment. The cold…...
The Respondent’s July 23, 2019, RMP submission outlines a maximum inventory of the regulated flammable substance butane and LPG at the Facility that exceeds the threshold quantity of 10,000 pounds of butane and LPG as outlined in Table 3 at 40 C.F.R. § 68.130. Respondent’s aerosol-propelled adhesive process at the Facility was, at the time…...
There are more than 380 substances with IDLH limits. View the current list of substances with IDLH. You can also find IDLH values in CAMEO Chemicals or in the online version of the NIOSH Pocket Guide(link is external). IDLH limits were primarily established to aid in making informed decisions about respirator use. Above the IDLH,…...
FYI… the state of NJ’s Right to Know Hazardous Substance Fact Sheets are the bomb and with WISER gone, these move up to my #1 go-to ER document. We need three (3) reliable sources to formulate our Incident Action Plan (IAP) that includes our PPE Hazard Assessment. These Fact Sheets, NIOSH’s Pocket Guide Book, and…...
