Paragraph (e)(3) of the 1910.157 specifies that employers must subject each portable fire extinguisher to an annual maintenance inspection and record the date of the inspection. In addition, this provision requires employers to retain the inspection record for one year after the last entry or for the life of the shell, whichever is less, and to make the record available to OSHA on request. This...

I have written many articles discussing evacuating hazardous materials from a piping system.  Over my career, I learned that using an open-top container can have disastrous results.  It may sound silly or petty, but when something fails in the tasks and the hazardous material erupts from the open-top container, making contact with the worker(s), you will begin to ask… is there a better...

At 5:00 p.m. on September 20, 2023, an employee entered an oil well production tank to replace a leaking valve. The employee became unconscious when he entered the confined space. The employee died of asphyxiation in the hazardous atmosphere. … HomeRead More »

This article aligns with my previous article, “When are High-Vis garments no longer considered High-Vis?”  It is in the same spirit of managing the PPE that so many workers rely on daily.  And anyone who has been in safety for six months or longer can tell us horror stories of what they have seen with workers wearing and claiming some PPE is “protecting them.” Although...

We visit 25-30 facilities each year, with about 15% of those being first-time and last-time visits!  And man-o-man, we see some crazy things.  I may have unreasonable expectations of safety, but complying with OSHA standards that have been on the books for 50+ years should not be a battle we are still fighting today.  Take basic safety signage for example.  The OSHA standard on...

Respondent operates a granular monoammonium phosphate (GMAP) process and a diammonium phosphate (DAP) process at the Facility, meeting the definition of “process”, as defined by 40 C.F.R. § 68.3. A different Respondent operates an anhydrous ammonia process at the Facility, meeting the definition of “process”, as defined by 40. C.F.R. § 68.3. The GMAP and DAP processes are located on property that is...

This is the lens through which we should view EMERGENCY RESPONSE and our local FD as the “primary responders.” Just because we have a local FD (paid full-time or volunteer) does not mean we have the emergency services we need!  Far too often, our “assumptions” about the fire service’s capabilities far outstretch their actual abilities. Regarding firefighting, rescue,...

Respondent is the owner and operator of the facility. On October 15, 2022, there was an incident at the Facility that resulted in an accidental release of approximately 17,598 pounds of Aluminum Triethyl (ATE). The Incident resulted in an on-site chemical fire at the Facility and a shelter-in-place for the surrounding community. The Respondent’s facility uses natural gas and by-products from refinery...

Two people were severely injured after a Nitrogen cylinder catastrophically failed during refilling/pressurization. Person 1 shut off the air and nitrogen gas supplies before yelling to the workshop to call the HSE leader (nurse). Person 2, who was holding the cylinder, suffered severe injuries to his legs and one hand. Person 3 was injured when the booster pump collided with his legs, probably after...

The investigation has found that the direct cause of the leak was corrosion under the insulation in a 4″ pipe for heavy naphtha from the distillation tower.  The lack of inspection and repair meant that the corrosion had continued long enough for a hole to form in the pipe. Piping and equipment in a refinery can be exposed to external and internal corrosion. To monitor and repair such damage,...

A safety partnership is defined as: Leadership, managers, and front-line associates jointly focus on safety and proactively work together in a business entity to minimize the possibility of harm and maximize safety performance. (Cooper, 2016) Creating a genuine safety partnership means management and the workforce jointly working towards achieving common and understood safety goals, with clear and...

On August 6, 2018, at 1:35 pm, an event occurred at Km 4+300 of the road connection between Motorway A1 and Motorway A14 near Bologna (see picture 1 in Annex 1). The section of the road flows over an elevated structure above the urban road network below.  Among the vehicles involved in the accidents, there were two ADR vehicles.  A tractor with a semitrailer with an LPG class 2 tank that...