On February 6, 2024, at 10:00 p.m., an employee, 26, was repairing leaking water on pump equipment without lockout/tagout. While the engine was on, the employee began to unscrew a high-pressure valve nipple. The pressure was not released from the valve, causing it to blow off and strike the employee in the head and chest. He sustained unspecified face, neck, and chest injuries and was killed. Violations/Penalties...

On November 1, 2022, at 12:45 p.m., an employee, 30, was installing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment at a residential building. When the employee was pressure testing a pipe fitting, an object flew off the HVAC unit and struck the employee in the face and head. The employee was killed by blunt force trauma. On or about November 01, 2022, in the crawl space of Building # 2389,...

On November 3, 2020, at 1:15 p.m., Employee #1, 55, employed by an HVAC company, was working at a customer’s commercial facility. He was removing a coupler and blind from the intake header of an air dryer. The employee did not first relieve the air pressure from the header. When he loosened the coupler bolts, the coupler and blind were propelled off the header by the pressure release. The flying...

I was raised in process safety, with a focus on flammables, and I was taught that one thing you just don’t allow into your flammable process is plastics! But even I was unaware of how much plastic I had always overlooked, which was right under my nose, such as my LOTO tags. New Hazard – Static Discharge from Isolation Tag CCPS was recently (January 2023) made aware of a newly identified...

Why do “lagging indicators” remain such a popular means of gauging/measuring the success of the safety effort?  We should measure the results and that these lagging indicators can/do play a role in measuring our success in all functions within a business. However, as I would like to point out to C-Suite executives, the company does not simply count “bounced checks” to measure...

Leadership should demonstrate a commitment to safety within their organization by setting a clear tone from the top, promoting the vision for safety, and by: Taking OVERALL RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY for the prevention of work-related injury and ill health, as well as the provision of safe and healthy workplaces and activities; making sure that they are VISIBLE ACROSS THEIR ORGANIZATION and...

The HSE Advisory Committee’s definition of safety culture is: An organization’s safety culture is the product of individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies, and patterns of behavior that determine the commitment to, and the style and proficiency of, an organization’s health and safety management.”  A safety culture builds slowly, but behaviors are...

Here are some FREE and straightforward Safety Management 101 items for your organization’s senior management. These could be applied to a facility’s senior management or at a corporate level. 1) Organizations MUST commit sufficient resources to identify and provide the minimum personnel levels (NOT just safety teams) to manage and address the risks they face. These resources include personnel,...

An organization that listens to and learns from its people is constantly improving and understands that mistakes, errors in judgment, and the need to adapt are normal.  Organizations should listen to and support their personnel by promoting a culture that: Encourages them to report mistakes and safety occurrences and Investigate them where appropriate. When an organization is listening and learning...

A risk-based approach means focusing assurance efforts on the activities and controls that give rise to the most significant safety risks that may impact the successful delivery of the Organization’s objectives. It can also include focusing assurance in areas where the most benefit will be derived from the effort. This means a high-level prioritization approach to identifying, assessing, reporting,...

A BLEVE at a gas station in Russia killed at least four (4) people. Several excellent videos have been shared with our membership and me.

On February 19, 2015, employees were to perform a preventive maintenance inspection inside of a scrubber, which is maintained free of oxygen using a nitrogen blanket. When the designated attendant could not find the entrant employee, other employees searched for him. The entrant employee was found inside the scrubber (a metal tube) where he had been preparing to clean it out. He was found to be unresponsive....