You and your team are preparing to enter a PRCS, and as the entry supervisor begins to review the permit, he/she explains the space is isolated, and you notice the permit states “LOTO- N/A.”  You inquire about this and ask about the isolation method(s) used for the entry.  The supervisor offers to show you the isolation for the vertical 100,000-gallon storage tank and to walk...

Have you ever wondered why PSM and RMP require an employer to establish safe upper and lower limits for such items as temperatures, pressures, flows, or compositions in their Process Safety Information and evaluate the consequences of deviating from these limits, including those affecting the safety and health of employees?  And then, in the Operating Procedures Element, the employer must establish...

Current Policy PHMSA supports a practice of no gaps/no overlaps. PHMSA has not changed its policy or inspection approach toward processing facilities.  PHMSA has no interest in regulating processing units. OSHA regulates gas processing units. PHMSA and OSHA are in agreement on jurisdictional lines. Neither PHMSA or OSHA are limited by fence lines CLICK HERE for the presentation. CLICK HERE for...

Respondent owns and operates a potato processing facility which is located, according to the U.S. Census data from 2010, from a few thousand people who live near the Facility. The Facility is located within 0.25 miles of Route 1 and 0.5 miles from the downtown area. Respondent uses anhydrous ammonia in a refrigeration process (“the Process”). On June 25, 2004, Respondent completed its first...

Questions and Answers from PSM Webinar Sept. 29, 2015.  Answers provided by Jeff Wanko, PE, CSP, and Safety Engineer in OSHA’s Directorate of Enforcement, Office of Chemical Process Safety in Washington, D.C.   Q. Do you have to test the safety equipment annually? A. Under paragraph (j), mechanical integrity, OSHA requires that employers inspect and test process equipment...

An OSHA inspection identified several serious and recurring deficiencies in the company’s Process Safety Management program. As a result of these conditions, OSHA cited the facility, the nation’s leading propane supplier, on Sept. 24, 2015, for three repeated and five serious violations of workplace safety and health standards. Proposed fines total $135,000. OSHA found the facility did...

There are so many learnings in this incident that every single business should analyze these against their current safety systems.  Many of the issues that the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) investigation investigation identified are present in many other processing units handling Highly Hazardous Chemicals and Extremely Hazardous Substances.  This is a breakdown of the items that the CSB has...

SAFTENG members can CLICK HERE to download the WORD doc.  

  Over 12,500 exclusive unsafe acts/conditions and accident/injuries photos and over 1,300 ppt’s & doc’s from more than 2,797 contributors!   Many THANKS to my NEW and RENEWING “Partners in Safety“ since 8/2015  since 7/2015 since 2008 since 2009 since 2013 2015 Fatality Tracker Electrical 34 (2014 =55) (2013 = 32) (2012 = 68) Forklift/Aerial 41 (2014 = 60)...

About 11:36 a.m. on January 5, 2002, a tractor pulling a cargo tank semitrailer departed the plant entrance and the trailer catastrophically failed. This failure occurred in the void area between the first and second tank, and the trailer broke into two pieces.      … HomeRead More »