A movement within the safety community, primarily online banter, somehow finds fault with a WRITTEN safety management system (SMS).  There are even books published on the topic that are being pushed, decrying written programs as a bureaucratic waste of time, too controlling, no value added, etc.  I find this very sad, but they do have a point.  Most written safety programs are written...

AMSE P-1, Guidelines for Pressure Boundary Bolted Flange Joint Assembly, is a MUST have (and read) for process safety professionals managing piping systems that have bolted flanged joints.  In fact, Chapter 15, JOINT DISASSEMBLY, has some specific requirements that a facility should adopt as part of its Line Break SWP for flanged joints. HINT: the old trick of the first nut loosened being down...

A RAGAGEP, which is often overlooked for pipe flanges but is fair game for OSHA and EPA to reference, is ASME PCC-1, Guidelines for Pressure Boundary Bolted Flange Joint Assembly.  The RAGAGEP outlines the training personnel needs to safely assemble and disassemble flanged joints in hazardous material(s) piping circuits.  A facility with flanged piping should seriously consider adopting these...

Training and qualified personnel must assemble flanged joints in hazardous materials piping systems (see Appendix A of ASME PCC-1). Consideration should be given to establishing a finished joint examination process as part of the facility’s QA/QC assurance program.  A leak or failure in a piping system can be a minor inconvenience for low-consequence fluids, or it can become a potential...

There are many different pipe support designs, types, and styles. They include hanger type, support shoes, saddles, bearing surfaces (e.g., structural members, concrete plinth blocks, etc.), spring type, dummy legs (trunnions), slide plates, sway braces/snubbers/struts, stands, sleeves, rollers, straps, clamps, and restrictive guides or anchors. An understanding of the function and design of pipe supports...

Here is the summary of the Apeals Coourts decision, and this was NOT a red tag program issue.  This was an INSPECTION and CORRECTION issue!!! Here is the summary of the decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Appellants Fun F/X II, Inc. and Cao Enterprises II, LLC (collectively “Fun F/X”) sought insurance coverage after a warehouse fire. The relevant insurance...

Performance Influencing Factors (PIFs) is another term, from across the pond, for error traps.  You will see me use these terms interchangeably in my HF postings, as I was formally trained to use the term PIFs, but these days it seems we use the term trap.  But after spending a year working with an organization that performed many MANUAL HIGH-RISK tasks daily, I found the UK’s HSE infographic...

In light of the tragedy in Greece this week, I think it is time to share this video from Lund University’s College of Human Factors Engineering again.  Be sure to check out all of Johan Bergström’s videos on YouTube.  A term in HFE seldom gets mentioned during accident investigations, as most will say it, “muddies the water” in the investigation. But the space between...

Flexible hoses are often used to temporarily transfer hydrocarbons and other process fluids to facilitate turnaround activities (clearing equipment, de-inventorying, purging, etc.) and transfer process fluids/products to rail cars and/or/or tanker trucks for shipment. Flexible hoses may also be installed within process piping systems to mitigate the effects of thermal expansion, vibration, or movement...

Facilities should have a written program to ensure flanges are properly made up. Proper makeup of every flange in a piping system is important for reliability. Proper makeup includes:  … HomeRead More »

The ever-controversial “check valve” has now been defined as to when it should be formally included in the piping MI inspection process.  As we have discussed many times, if we claim a check valve in our PHA and/or SOP as a “safeguard,” then by all means, this valve has been defacto identified as a “safety critical valve”.  Here is the official definition...

The endpoint concentrations for regulated toxic substances under the risk management program rule (40 CFR Part 68 Appendix A) are listed in units of milligrams per liter (mg/L). Is this equivalent to parts per million (ppm)? … HomeRead More »