A 52-year-old male was fatally injured when he was burned due to a flash fire inside a 23’ long x 6’ diameter stainless steel tank. The company was contracted to restore a stainless steel tank so that it could be returned to the dairy process as a Sugar Tank. At the time of the incident, an employee was spray applying a food-grade lining system (Carboline Plasite 7133) inside the tank.  Employees...

At 1:00 p.m. on July 24, 2019, two (2) employees were filling a tanker truck from a portable bulk container (IBC) when a flash fire occurred. Employee #1 was standing on top of the ethanol tanker truck and his body, clothing, the tanker, tote, and hose caught on fire. Employee #1 attempted to slide down from the side of the tanker and fell about 9 feet onto the asphalt. Employee #1 sustained second...

At 3:11 p.m. Employee #1, who had worked with the company for three months as a forklift operator/ repacking, was working alone in the repacking area making a transfer of acetone (flammable liquid) from an elevated 793-gallon stainless steel intermediate bulk container (tote) to a 350-gallon stainless steel tote on the floor. In order to make the transfer, Employee #1 elevated the 793-gallon tote with...

Respondent owns and operates an agricultural storage and supply facility. On August 16, 2016, an accidental release of anhydrous ammonia occurred at Respondent’s Facility when filling a storage tank. The release resulted in the hospitalization of an employee. 22. On or about March 12, 2019, representatives of the EPA conducted an inspection of Respondent’s Facility to determine compliance...

Many years ago I had an open debate with a “grandfather of refrigeration” on his turf in front of about 30 other refrigeration professionals and the debate was about “flange connections”, ASME B16, and TORQUE and how it all applied to covered processes regardless of what the HHC/EHS was, including anhydrous ammonia in a refrigeration process. “Torque” is a nasty...

So what is the Assigned-Protection Factor (APF) for an air-line respirator, commonly used inside PRCSs which has, or has the potential to have an IDLH atmosphere?  Is it 1,000 or 10,000?  I have always been taught/trained that the simple air-line respirator (Pressure-demand/Positive pressure mode) WITHOUT the Auxilary/Back-up cylinder the APF is 1,000, but the addition of the Auxilary/Back-up...

It seems that my January article “What does a “suitable telltale indicator” look like when we have a dual relief system” was a hit as I received numerous requests for information on how to get these special gauges.  And as I promised each of you in the ammonia refrigeration industry, here is what I have used on my NH3 refrigeration RV systems:   The gauge on the left...

On December 30, 2019, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) Inspectors working offshore discovered that a level safety high had been improperly deactivated with a zip tie, resulting in the issuance of a P-103 incident of noncompliance (INC). There have been multiple instances across the Gulf of Mexico in which operators have failed to bypass or block out-of-service devices in accordance...

Although this Coast Gaurd Bulletin is specific to maritime vessels, it can and should be applied to relief valves on land as well.  There are some really good practices in this bulletin, such as when to perform the test in-situ vs. bench testing.  The incident happened when a relief valve on the associated compressor was removed because it had a lower set-point than the relief valve on the...

At 4:30 p.m. on March 26, 2019, a contractor working at an asphalt refinery in AL entered a Permit-Required Confined Space to take a video of a reactor section when he lost air supply and was asphyxiated.  OSHA cited the industrial contractor for failing to ensure personnel outside the PRCS were capable of providing effective rescue, for allowing an employee to enter the permit-required confined...

At 8:30 a.m. on June 15, 2019, a worker employed by a painting contractor was setting up equipment to abrasive blast electrode holders. He connected the abrasive blasting hood to a line that was supplying nitrogen rather than one supplying compressed air. He inhaled nitrogen instead of breathable air and was asphyxiated. … HomeRead More »

Sometime in the late afternoon of July 3rd, two workers entered the water main vault at the intersection of Highways 70 and 100 in North Carolina. The two were employees of a Backhoe and Landscaping business and were working with several employees to extend a 24″ main water line. While the vault they entered and died in was not set by the company, it was the vault that housed the valve that they...