Respondent is the owner and operator of a facility that produces olefins, ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, Methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), ethylene glycols, propylene glycols, ethanolamines, morpholine/Diglycolamine (DGA) surfactants. The facility is divided into nine process areas. The first area contains the propylene glycol unit G2. The second area contains the morpholine/DGA unit E7. The third...

NOTE:  I usually do not post RMP citations with this small of an amount, but this was a rare Program 1 citation, so I felt there was some learning to this. Respondent operates a polyurethane manufacturing facility with over 10,000 pounds of methyl formate in a process at the Facility. Methyl formate is a “regulated substance” pursuant to 40 C.F.R. § 68.3. The threshold quantity for methyl formate,...

 This is a real event – not a training event.  PPE matters when dealing with a flammable liquids fire (even the potential for)… Flammable Liquid Fire Footage from Orange County Fire Authority on Vimeo.

The Phoenix Fire Department has issued a nice SOP for their responses to flammable liquids.  It would make a really nice start for a facility’s Emergency Response Plan where a response to a flammable liquid(s) spill/release.  CLICK HERE

Relief systems include, but are not limited to, relief valves, relief headers, relief drums, and rupture disks. Design basis means documenting how the loads and sizes of the relief system and inlet and outlet sizes were determined. This includes: … HomeRead More »

I have probably posted more than two dozen reports and videos showing the hazards associated with Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBC), almost all associated with flammable liquids.  In September 2019, a facility in Rouen, France, experienced a catastrophic event involving IBCs containing flammable liquids.  It was just a reminder of the hazards and level of risks these containers can pose...

An employee, 49, of a paint manufacturing company spent eight days in intensive care on life support and has been left with all-over body scarring, partial blindness to one eye, hearing damage, and damage to a knee and shoulder.  He was off work for 16 months.  The explosion at the company’s premises on August 4, 2020, also caused significant damage to the building.  The employee was...

We have discussed this before; there is a significant difference between Recognized and Generally Accepted Good Engineering Practices (RAGAGEPs) and OSHA’s minimum performance compliance standards.  OSHA standards may be adequate when quantities of the hazardous material(s) are managed at a lower inventory level; however, once those inventory levels exceed the PSM/RMP threshold, the old...

Last month I posted Exhaust Ventilation for Flammable Atmospheres and “Safe Locations” to explain the hazards of not controlling our flammable vapors associated with the required exhaust ventilation.  I received several comments and questions on that article regarding the normal process of venting hazardous materials and how to best define a “safe location” for these process...

The phrase “important building” is used in many hazardous material(s) standards and codes.  OSHA, IFC, and NFPA all use the phrase, yet the phrase is not defined in any of these codes.  And because of this lack of definition, there are usually needless debates about their role in safety or the hazards they may present.  Here is OSHA’s use of the phrase… …...

A fair number of you are with me on my approach to industrial safety. I am a believer and user of HOP, SIF, and Psychological Safety, the three (3) major moevements in safety these days. But these movements NEED STRUCTURE to thrive inside a workplace. They are NOT standalone “programs,” and any snake oil salesperson trying to sell you their product as such is not a safety professional;...

NFPA’s Fire Protection Research Foundation completed a project to identify, summarize, and analyze static electricity incidents. A summary of the current provisions in NFPA 77 are provided and existing knowledge gaps were identified. This report assists the NFPA 77 Technical Committee on Static Electricity and others in the fire protection and life safety industry. The project comprised four...