Chlorine is EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS, with an IDLH of 10 ppm and a TLV of 0.5 ppm (just above the odor threshold for most). Chlorine is heavier than air (VD > 2.5), and when released, it forms a greenish-yellow gas with a pungent, irritating odor that follows the terrain at ground level.  The mean odor threshold for chlorine lies between 0.2 and 0.4 ppm.  Chlorine is a NON-FLAMMABLE gas; however,...

An image from my HAZMAT courses… People wonder why the ERG Protective Action Distance diagram is shaped like it is. This image validates the model…                                       NOTE: Cl2 release image is from the Jack Rabbit testing project

Here is a GREAT “self-assessment” tool, just eight (8) questions, to evaluate your facility’s ability to investigate and perform causal analysis properly. … HomeRead More »

This is a crazy case!  The mill hired a contractor to build scaffolding inside one of its Chlorine Dioxide (CLO2) tanks.  The mill prepped the tank and even performed the initial air sampling of the space.  Turned it over to one of the scaffolding contractor employees who would be the attendant for the entry.  Three entrants and the attendant were wearing personal Cl2 air monitors. ...

As he had many other days, the morning shift welder arrived at 5 a.m. to work on Aug. 28, 2023. Tasked with doing some fabrication work in a 4-foot by 8-foot space in a ship’s hull, the employee began work unaware that fatal suffocation would soon end his life. Less than two hours after entering the ship, a supervisor found the unconscious welder and signaled for help, only to fall unconscious as well. A...

The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) requires businesses that store and/or manufacture, process, or use certain chemicals to complete the Tier II (EPCRA 311 and 312) Report and/or the Toxics Release Inventory (EPCRA 313) Report, also called the Form R. Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act focuses on risk management for accident prevention. While these three (3) programs...

How do you differentiate between an amputation without bone and avulsions? … HomeRead More »

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...