So many want to accuse Heinrich of being too heavy on “unsafe acts” and claim that he held the workers too responsible for their injuries. This is just pure hogwash! I have shared many passages from Heinrich’s writings from the 1920s-1930, and each one clearly shows that he was more a fan of what we call today the “Latent Organizational Failure(s)” (James Reason). In this...

This was another WRONG CHEMICAL—WRONG TANK incident at a resort. It was an unloading accident, and “human error” was said to have caused it. The chemical leak is believed to have resulted from hydrochloric acid being accidentally poured into a chlorine tank during a delivery. The incident, attributed to human error, is under thorough investigation by local authorities. https:...

Whether we are talking about Process Safety or Occupational Safety and Health management systems, the ability to track corrective actions and recommendations discovered from the Safety Process/SMS activities may be one of the most critical aspects of any management system; it is undoubtedly the driving force behind any “Continuous Improvement” efforts. In the process safety arena, we have...

These days, too many companies have short-circuited their “new employee safety orientation.” They have either substantially shortened the time employees are in “safety orientation” or, worse, changed the format from face-to-face to a CBT format using information that is NOT even specific to the site-specific safety programs/practices. And then they call me and ask, “Why...

Most safety pros have seen the videos of workers in car washes doing some outlandish behaviors.  We may have been snickered at what we watched.  But this is the real result of what we saw in those videos… At midnight on January 13, 2024, an employee, 26, cleaned the car wash tunnel and equipment. The employee was cleaning the passenger side exit Top Mount Side Washer referred to as...

I have been sharing this battle in my social media groups; but now the PHMSA has gotten pulled into the battle and was quick to respond to a request for an interpretation.   Response Publish Date: 05/28/2024 Company Name: Individual Name: Mr. Fred Storer Location State: OK Country: US Response text: … HomeRead More »

Please note, this is NOT a chemical process safety incident, but the design failures and human errors are directly related to process safety hazards. The design of a new passenger ferry’s engine and inadequate follow-on training for engineering crewmembers led to a 2022 fire aboard a Staten Island Ferry.  The fire broke out in the engine room of a passenger ferry in New York Harbor with 884 persons...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General is issuing this fraud alert to highlight an increasingly common phishing scam involving fraudulent EPA Notice of Violation letters. In this scam, a fraudster sends a falsified EPA Notice of Violation letter to a target business and requests that the business respond by phone or email. In recent instances of this crime, a fraudster...

The Chemical Safety Board (CSB) updated its published list of reported chemical release incidents. These are not incidents that the CSB is investigating, these are incidents that were reported to the CSB under their Accidental Release Reporting rules (40 CFR 1604). … HomeRead More »

Chainsaws and Human Factors This module looks at finding the balance between production, distractions and safety concerns in an effort to avoid hazards. Category: Hazards Core Component(s):  Incident Reviews and Lessons Learned, Human Factors, Communication and Decision Making Estimated Delivery Time: 30 minutes Video Length: 14:11

This article is in line with this week’s [My] Safety Thought of the Week (Manage Safety the same as Quality).  I hope to explain the 3-5-year plan I offer clients who have decided it is time for a formally structured management system to manage the risks their workers face.  It is a quite simple plan and is intended to take the “traditional safety program” and transform...

I have discussed this approach before but think it is worth repeating. In our SMS/Safety Process, we need to view the men and women who do our dirty and dangerous work as our “customers,” just like we view our business customers through the lens of our Quality Management System (QMS). Imagine the outcome if we sent our customers a lousy product. There would be a loss of trust and credibility...