Regardless of what CSB highlights in this video… TORQUE VALUES MATTER and having your Emergency Escape Respirator on your person all played a role in this accident! Also, SIMOPS is a term discussed the video.  CLICK HERE to see a great, and FREE, safety document explaining SIMOPS from our friends at the CCPS. I also implore you to read my 87 articles on “Line Breaking”, several...

This case is interesting, as I have always challenged the concept that an engine room (membership required)with large roll-up utility doors and windows and personnel/fire doors that are found propped open more often than not would contain the “catastrophic release of NH3”.  It seems this EPA inspector was one who attended one of my 5-Day Advanced Process Safety courses, and I was able...

If we spend enough time in chemical plants, we will encounter a widespread, albeit severe, human failure regarding a “safety-critical instrument.”  I am referring to the IMPROPER placement of personal gas monitors.  Nine times out of 10, where do we find these personal gas monitors on the worker’s body?  I am betting your experiences are similar to mine and you would...

This case is interesting, as I have always challenged the concept that an engine room (membership required)with large roll-up utility doors and windows and personnel/fire doors that are found propped open more often than not would contain the “catastrophic release of NH3”.  It seems this EPA inspector was one who attended one of my 5-Day Advanced Process Safety courses, and I was able...

Regardless of what CSB highlights in this video… TORQUE VALUES MATTER and having your Emergency Escape Respirator on your person all played a role in this accident! Also, SIMOPS is a term discussed the video.  CLICK HERE to see a great, and FREE, safety document explaining SIMOPS from our friends at the CCPS. I also implore you to read my 87 articles on “Line Breaking”, several...

A flash fire broke out at 626 Lynnway on Monday morning after a worker with a private demo company cut a pipe, according to the Fire Department’s Public Information Officer. The worker was transferred to a Hospital with “minor burns.” The worker is expected to make a full recovery.  The worker was carried out of the building to the ambulance by other workers, who helped tend to injuries...

A bloody episode in a long war introduces the idea that defenses designed to protect against one kind of hazard can render their users prey to other kinds of danger, usually not foreseen by those who created them or even appreciated by those who use them. In short, defenses can be dangerous. This is no less true now—in the age of high-technology systems—than in 1415. On a damp late October morning...

This week, I shared some pictures of a setup I encountered last year in an audit I conducted at a manufacturing facility. This sole department was using metal trash cans as ” safety cans,” while the rest of the facility was using FM/UL “approved safety cans” for their “dirty rags” storage. The sight of this setup immediately caught my attention and the attention...

Most everyone has seen the failures within Boeing, both in its commercial aviation division and now its space flight division.  I’m guessing this latest story should not be a surprise, seeing the depth of the issues in their commercial aviation division.  But this is NOT about Boeing, as there are hundreds, if not tens of thousands, of organizations in this same shape… its just...

A Proposed Rule by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on 08/30/2024 OSHA is proposing to issue a new standard, titled “Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings”.  The standard would apply to all employers conducting outdoor and indoor work in all general industry, construction, maritime, and agriculture sectors where OSHA has jurisdiction,...

A contract worker died and two others were injured in an ammonia gas leak at a chemical factory. The three (3) contract workers, 24, 37, 24, were working at a chemical factory which was producing soda ash and other products. When they were trying to check an ammonia leak from a pipe around 3.15 p.m., the gas gushed out, leading to the death of one of the workers on the spot. The other two have been...

In 2015 and 2022, I mentioned that the EPA proposed updating 68.85 by requiring Hot Work permits to be retained for five (5) years, where that frequency came from, and why they wanted to update the standard.  Members can read… EPA proposing a retention period for Hot Work Permits and How long do you keep your hot work permits? As it went through public comments, the EPA settled on a different...