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...

Last week I posted the investigation findings from a triple fatality event near my hometown that was caused by a 70+-year-old LPG cylinder that was 33 years PAST its recertification/requalification date AND was overfilled. Now the BSEE has shared a SAFETY ALERT regarding a Nitrogen Compressed Gas cylinder that catastrophically failed injuring three (3) workers and causing property damage. The failure...

The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA) acted within its authority when it adopted rules strengthening safety and health requirements for agricultural labor housing (ALH), the Oregon Department of Justice (DOJ) has confirmed in written legal advice. The legal advice clears away any potential doubt about the division’s authority to enforce its amended ALH rule, parts of...

Section 1910.255(e) requires that a periodic inspection of resistance welding equipment be made by qualified maintenance personnel and that a certification record be generated and maintained. The certification shall include: … HomeRead More »

At 10:30 am, on October 16, 2023, Employee #1, 20, was working for a construction gas & oil support contractor. Coworkers were cutting and welding an eye-lifting plate on a compressor skid. A fire hazard consisting of miscellaneous petroleum products had been allowed to accumulate on, in, and around the compressor skid area. … HomeRead More »

I think most EHS professionals will agree that bulk tanks of hazardous materials need some means of “secondary containment”. This practice has been in place for my entire career and rarely gets challenged. However, in recent years I have come across several scenarios where either the facility/unit designed the process to function this way or operations have learned how they can operate...

This Service Advisory is to inform you of actions you need to take regarding your MSA SENTRY io controllers if your unit is installed in an outdoor location or other environment subject to water ingress. If your unit is not installed in either of these conditions, no action is needed. Potentially affected models were manufactured between March 1, 2023, and February 14, 2025, and are listed in Table...

Source: Norfolk Nebraska Fire and Rescue Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/NorfolkNEFireRescue?__tn__=%2Cd-UC*F

Today, the CSB released a second update on its ongoing investigation into the fatal hydrogen sulfide (H2S) release that occurred on October 10, 2024, at the PEMEX Deer Park Refinery in Deer Park, Texas. Two contract workers died during the incident, and over 27,000 pounds of toxic hydrogen sulfide gas were released. Local authorities issued shelter-in-place orders lasting several hours for the neighboring...

We see this far too often… a management system failure related to 3-year PSM/RMP audits. A company with multiple facilities should be “trending” its 3-year audit findings to IDENTIFY opportunities for improvement across the company. I did this years ago when I was a member of the Corporate EHS Team for a semi-conductor. And was it ever eye-opening? Just simply doing a number count...

The explosion at an auto repair shop in Hillsboro, OH that claimed the lives of three (3) workers, aged 19, 33, and 47 in 2023 has been determined to have been caused by a rupture to an LPG cylinder that had been overfilled and past its requalification date by 33 years. I would also like to make note of the following facts, as stated in the SFM report, that could have played a role in this tragedy....