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I am proud to announce that SAFTENG and The Chlorine Institute have renewed our partnership for another year (through 2026). Members of The Chlorine Institute receive a FREE SAFTENG membership. If you qualify, please contact me
NOTE: Any trade group interested in becoming a partner with SAFTENG for your Member Companies, please reach out, and I can share the plan
SAFTENG has:
- Over 19,000 categorized unsafe acts/conditions and accident/injury photos
- Over 1,500 ppt's & doc's in the SAFTENG Library
- Over 5,000 Technical Articles on Process Safety, Emergency Response & OSH topics
- Over 450 videos (those not allowed on YouTube Channel)
Many THANKS to my NEW Members and those who CONTINUE to support SAFTENG:
1) Variation in human performance is normal and not causal.
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This is a real-life story of Elimination vs. Engineering Control
We see some odd designs in our work around the world, but recently we came across a setup that defied any logic for a relief valve design basis. For some reason, the OEM and Installer of this process equipment wanted it enclosed for “efficiency”; however, they did not feel the need to vent the relief valve(s) outside of...
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I fight this battle every year! It’s usually a learning experience for people unfamiliar with chemical processing and ASME B31.3. But I do my best to ensure they understand how the 10-minute Pressure Test is done, and then how the Leak Testing is done. So today I decided I need to “test” my practice that I have been doing for 30+ years; as I began to wonder “maybe I was taught...
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Chemical and refinery facility personnel open piping and equipment to perform routine maintenance, add/replace components, or modify pipe routing. The piping may contain hazardous material, such as flammable hydrocarbons, toxic chemicals, or thermally reactive chemicals. Safe work practices dictate the removal or mechanical isolation of hazardous material from piping and equipment (e.g., using valves...
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In an earlier post tonight, I shared an OSHA Hazard Bulletin from 1993 titled: Chemical Exposures from Industrial Valve and Piping Systems. In that Bulletin OSHA, talks about the hazards and accidents related to workers opening processes. But there is another serious error we see often… Open Ended Piping. This is a serious NO-NO in hazardous materials processes. Although OSHA does not have...
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OSHA Hazard Information Bulletins – Chemical Exposures from Industrial Valve and Piping Systems
May 14, 1996 MEMORANDUM FOR: REGIONAL ADMINISTRATORS FROM: MICHAEL CONNORSDEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY SUBJECT: Hazard Information Bulletin – Chemical Exposures from Industrial Valve and Piping Systems
The purpose of this Hazard Information Bulletin is to heighten public awareness of the...
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The risks in sampling activities can be off the charts without engineering controls, Administrative Controls, and PPE. This post shares my sampling system. I learned this the hard way, and I hope some will take this advice and reduce the risks when we ask operators to collect a sample from a “live process”.
As I have written about many times, OPENING a process, whether it’s a...
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1/19/2026 UPDATE:
“City officials said a pressurised storage tank exploded inside the factory. The tank was designed to hold steam and high-temperature water.”
Source: https://www.firstpost.com/world/two-killed-85-hospitalised-as-blast-rips-through-chinese-steel-plant-factory-managers-detained-13970127.html
There was an explosion at a steel plate plant in Baotou, Inner Mongolia,...
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On June 22, 2023, at about 9:10 p.m., a 5,200-gallon polyethylene storage tank (“tank”) ruptured. The rupture fatally injured one employee. At the time of the incident, the tank needed to be refilled with aluminum chloride; however, sulfuric acid was added instead. Approximately 80 gallons of 93 percent sulfuric acid were added to the 60 gallons of aluminum chloride remaining in the tank, resulting...
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During the morning of February 24, 2023, an unknown amount of hydrocarbons and hydrogen sulfide were released, fatally injuring an employee inside an enclosed building at an oil and gas facility in North Dakota. The hydrocarbons and hydrogen sulfide displaced the oxygen in the building, and the employee asphyxiated in the oxygen-deficient atmosphere.
The employee was considered a “lone worker” who...
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On December 19, 2022, at approximately 11:10 a.m., an accidental release of 22,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia occurred from the NH3 refrigeration process at a food processing facility in Norwood, Massachusetts. Exposure to the toxic ammonia vapor fatally injured one contract worker and seriously injured another contract worker. In addition, the release caused about $4 million in property damage.
The...
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