It is great when I can convince an organization to pressure test and leak test its process piping. However, if this task is not done according to the book, we may have created a serious hazard. Two (2) safety-critical devices are often overlooked during pressure and leak testing, and missing either one or both can lead to disastrous consequences. Pressure Relief Device Calibrated Pressure Gage Let’s...

Initial findings in an employee’s death show breathing air was compromised while working in a paint booth after the breathing air system unintentionally allowed nitrogen to get into the system. The worker, 61, was found not breathing just after noon on Feb. 24 in a paint booth. This incident occurred in the same area where a December 2019 nitrogen gas-line explosion sent more than a dozen workers to...

This is why we MUST have a Quality Assurance process in our piping installations when welding joins the pipe. The same applies to the construction process vessels; however, most of those are “shop-built,” and we are outside the scope of those vessels. But a “field-erected” vessel would fall into our sphere of control.

PRAYERS and RIP 🙏 This is why we NEVER step in puddles… MINE FATALITY – On August 4, 2024, a contractor suffered severe chemical and thermal burns after he stepped into a deep opening in the floor obscured by puddled liquid. The contractor fell into a mixture of hot water and caustic liquid. On September 2, 2024, he died from his injuries. Best Practices: ➡️ Install adequate warning signals and...

One of the top questions I get in my process safety circles is… Do we have to pressure test/leak test piping that has been opened/modified before we re-introduce the HHC/EHS to the piping? I turn to one of my favorite sources for RAGAGEPs, NFPA, and one of the best NFPA codes is NFPA 58, which I use as my baseline RAGEGAP for all my flammable liquified pressurized gases. Now, I do take issue...

The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) marked the 20th anniversary of the fatal explosions and fires at BP America Texas City Refinery in Texas City, TX, that occurred on March 23, 2005. The tragic incident resulted in the deaths of 15 people and injuries to 180 others.  To remember this deadly event, the CSB released a new report titled “The 20th Anniversary of the 2005...

Processes that handle Liquified Pressurized Gases are required to have Hydrostatic Relief Valves on liquid piping where the liquid can be trapped. Much like vapor/gas phase Pressure Safety Valves, it is frowned upon when we have an intervening valve under the PSV. However, many codes today ALLOW us to install a 3-way valve below the Hydrostatic/Vapor/Gas PSV. Interestingly enough, NFPA 58 allows this,...

The arrangement below is very common in processes/systems. This simple yet common arrangement causes havoc in hazard analyses. As the title states, is this arrangement managed with a Temporary SOP, a Car-Seal, or Both? The issue is that the motorized valve is tied to a Hi-Hi level alarm and interlock. When the vessel archives its Hi-Hi level, the interlock CLOSES the motorized valve to STOP flow to...

Several clients design Double Block and Bleed (DB&B) isolation into their process, especially when they know they will regularly enter certain Permit-Required Confined Spaces (PRCS). When these DB&B arrangements are part of the design, the isolation valves and the bleed valve are near one another. This allows us to use a single lock with some cable/chain and lockout devices. … HomeRead...

We often encounter an organization that conducts LOTO training annually. They do this because they believe OSHA requires annual LOTO training. However, the standard, 1910.147, does NOT require annual training! The standard requires each authorized employee to be “inspected” annually. If they fail that inspection, the standard requires the authorized employee to be re-trained. OSHA does...

In the past several decades, some organizational researchers and managers have used it to describe the norms and practices that organizations develop around their handling of people or as the espoused values and credo of an organization. This sometimes confuses the concept of culture with the concept of climate, and confuses culture as what is with culture as -what ought to be. Thus managers speak...

Contributing to the severity and duration of the fire was the lack of storage tank fail-safe control valves and internal fire valves and the location of the control building in the containment area where fuel leaks are likely to occur. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of the fire at the fuel storage facility at Denver’s Stapleton International Airport...