At 2:00 p.m. on May 20, 2014, Employee #1 was in a tank railcar confined space containing residual sweet crude oil without prior entry assessment and without wearing a harness with stand-by extraction equipment. While Employee #1 was shoveling crude oil inside a permit-required confined space tank railcar. Employee #1 was wearing a full-face supplied-air respirator (SAR), MSA Type-C Ultraview, attached...

At approximately 10:40 a.m. on April 2, 2019, the housing of a three-inch Y-strainer of an isobutylene line that fed into reactor K8 ruptured and isobutylene was released, forming a vapor cloud. Three employees responded to mitigate the isobutylene vapor in the reactor area. … HomeRead More »

I would love any comments, suggestions, corrections on this presentation.  A lot of updates based on the latest NFPA 70E requirements.  SAFTENG members can log into the member’s area and download the pdf version.  Once we get it just right I will share the final .ppt file with those who helped with this review.  If you have extensive electrical safety experience and want to...

At 3:15 p.m. on May 31, 2019, an employee was scraping oil sludge towards the bottom drain of a rail car when coworkers noted the absence of normal working sounds. The coworkers performed an entry rescue and found the employee unresponsive due to anoxia and chemical inhalation. The employee was killed. … HomeRead More »

At 4:45 a.m. on July 29, 2018, 16 employees were operating vegetable packaging equipment and performing material handling activities at a vegetable processing facility that used ammonia refrigeration. A fan unit for an evaporative condenser unit fell onto the condenser coil due to the structural failure of a motor bracket. While falling, the fan cut into the coils causing ammonia to be released inside,...

Pursuant to a local emphasis program (“LEP”) targeting grain handling facilities, Complainant initiated a programmed inspection of Respondent’s corn mill. During her inspection, Compliance Safety and Health Officer (“CSHO”) Joan Behrend observed an unguarded shaft bushing on a gear box and accumulations of grain dust around the exterior of the facility. Based on her observations, CSHO Behrend recommended,...

There are solid reasons why OSHA and most other governments have established MINIMUM safety standards for performing Hot Work.  This is not the first crazy act we have witnessed at fuel pumps, so I am starting my series… Fiasco @ the fuel pumps.  You may want to sit down for this one, at least try not to drool on your keyboard as I know your mouth will fall open… … HomeRead...

This video is exactly why the ASME B31 piping RAGAGEPs prefer hydrostatic pressure testing vs. pneumatic methods.  When we take piping up to 400 psi and higher we are creating a serious hazard; thus the code(s) have built-in administrative controls to ensure personnel are NOT near the piping when the test pressure is achieved and LOWERED to the normal operating pressure when welds/flanges are...

This video was shared with me from outside the USA.  The audience certainly does not understand what they are witnessing or they would not be watching so closely.  Although we can not see the fire impinging on the vessel, we can see the RV discharge has ignited.  Then after a few moments, I’m told this BLEVE occurred rather quickly after the initial fire, we see the failure. ...

There is just so much to take in from this video!  God help us if the “gas can” the attending is using contains actual gasoline!!  Of course, he or his partner ensured these “used gas cans” were cleaned thoroughly before filling with water and be used to wet the pavement during the hotwork – BUT WHY in the H_LL would you even use any resemblance of a “gas...

Respondent is the owner of a food transfer and storage facility and according to their risk management plan for the Facility, Respondent uses approximately 25,225 pounds of anhydrous ammonia in its closed-loop industrial ammonia refrigeration system.  On October 2, 2018, EPA conducted an inspection of the Facility to determine whether Respondent was in compliance with Section 112(r) of the CAA,...

This is NOT my personal interpretation of this ASME B31.3 “leak testing” requirement(s), but it is the official position of the Alberta Canada pressure equipment safety authority.  I share this as another “official” explanation of what ASME B31.3 requires in terms of pressure/leak testing and this regulatory agency’s interpretation of how they read this critical RAGAGEP. ...