OSHA issued 12 PSM citations at a manufacturer of foam, paper and plastic packaging materials. The inspection, which began Sept. 19, 2014, was conducted under OSHA’s National Emphasis Program on chemical facilities and focused on OSHA’s Process Safety Management. The facility had on hand 50,000 pounds of Isobutane, a flammable colorless gas used in the manufacturing process at the plant....

This is an interesting turn of events!  The ALJ upholds most of the citations and then OSHRC vacates them all. This after a 750-pound release of butylene oxide that occurred during a line break activity and was caused by an IMPROPER energy control plan.  One worker was diagnosed with “chemical pneumonia” due to his exposure to the cloud and the two workers directly involved...

 

      Many THANKS to my NEW and RENEWING “Partners in Safety“   since 2005 since 2010 since 2013  since 1/2015 Over 12,000 exclusive unsafe acts/conditions and accident/injuries photos and over 1,100 ppt’s & doc’s from more than 2,782 contributors!   2015 Fatality Tracker Electrical 12 (2014 =55) (2013 = 32) (2012 = 68) Forklift/Aerial 7 (2014...

OSHA issued eleven (11) PSM citation at a business that specializes in heat treating powder metal parts. The September 2014 inspection was initiated under the National Emphasis Program for Process Safety Management at chemical facilities.  The process used anhydrous ammonia as a fuel at the metal heat treating facility. Here is a breakdown of the citations: … HomeRead More »

The North Dakota Industrial Commission has adopted new conditioning standards to improve the safety of Bakken crude oil for transport.  Order No. 25417 sets operating standards for conditioning equipment to properly separate production fluids into gas and liquid. The order includes parameters for temperatures and pressures under which the equipment must operate to ensure that light hydrocarbons...

Guardian Fall Protection has discontinued their Rescue G-Loop trauma straps and “quarantined” ALL existing stock. Consult this message from Guardian for more information. … HomeRead More »

Capital Safety has issued an Inspection Notice regarding certain models of their Protecta Rebel SRL.  The affected products are: the black extruded aluminum version of the Rebel SRL; manufactured between 1 April 2014 and 30 November 2014. Consult the official Inspection Notice for more details.

OSHA, as well as NFPA and IFC, permit a “weak roof-to-shell seam” as the means for emergency venting on an OUTSIDE ABOVE GROUND ATMOSPHERIC storage tank for flammable liquids.  This method was vey common in the early days, but has since been replaced with engineered fire vents.  This video does an excellent job demonstrating how a “weak roof-to-shell seam” works and...

Over the past year or so we have come across several situations where facilities have replaced their flammable liquid storage tanks, which some are used as a “waste tank”.  These “waste tanks” fall under EPA’s RCRA rule and apparently these tanks have to be “fully inspected” on a set frequency and when tanks sit directly on their foundation this causes...

Respondent operates a natural gas processing and fractionation facility. Respondent had maintenance activities performed on the Inlet Filter Separator (“Vessel”) on March 10, 2014 and March 11, 2014.  The Respondent used a contractor to perform the routine maintenance on the vessel, specifically, to replace filters.  The Vessel was flooded with water overnight on March 10, 2014,...

Respondent does business in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and operates a “stationary source”. Respondent has developed an RMProgram accidental release prevention program for the stationary source. The Respondent, at its stationary source has an RMProgram covered process, ammonia refrigeration, which stores or otherwise uses anhydrous ammonia, in an amount exceeding its applicable threshold...