EPA has announced a settlement with a refinery, resolving alleged Clean Air Act violations. The company has agreed to pay civil penalties of $115,000 for violations of risk management program requirements associated with the storage and use of flammable substances and hazardous chemicals. On December 15 and 16, 2011, EPA conducted an inspection of the refinery to determine compliance with section 112(r)(7)...

This hoilday season, do your family and mine a favor… Don’t drink and drive!

Home Early is the next commercial in the Valuing Safety campaign series which includes Homecomings, Carols and Who’s there. This campaign aims to continue to build support and understanding for the need for workplace safety so that the expectation that Victorian workers will return home safely every day becomes part of Victorian culture. Key messages: Often we take for granted the things in life...

One thing that many safety professionals are not aware of is which set of standards applies to their workplace.  I know I was well into my career, until I learned that some of the activities at my chemical plant actually fell under 1926 standards (Construction).  This was not contractors working, but our own maintenance personnel doing “construction work”.  There is an actual...

This is without a doubt the video that needs to find it’s way into every company’s “New Employee Orientation” as well as the annual safety training program.  This video maps out all of the stages of an accident and how all the domino’s line up to end in a bad way; but there is a serious twist at the end that drives home the point that the safety profession has been...

There is one PSM/RMP task that continues to cause problems and is still heatedly debated within process safety circles.  In all of the PSM/RMP requirements from OSHA and EPA standards, Line Break/Process Opening is the one area where there is no Recognized and Generally Accepted Good Engineering (RAGAGEP) for how the task is to be done.  There is no federal OSHA standard setting minimum requirement...

Safety Alert – PHMSA warns against filling unauthorized compressed gas cylinders with hazardous materials. … HomeRead More »

    Many THANKS to my NEWEST and RENEWING Corporate Partners in Safety…   since 2011 since 2007 since 2012 since 2012 since 2012 2012 Fatality Tracker Electrical 68 (2011 = 81) (2010 = 90) (2009 = 100) Forklift/Manlift Mobile Equipment 52 (2011 = 84) (2010 = 110) (2009 = 88) Mining 85 (2011 = 248) (2010 = 480) (2009 = 586) Explosions 239 (2011 = 218) (2010 = 246) (2009 = 302) Cranes...

The sound may not work for you, but trust me – sound is not necessary to learn from this video!  I have yet to find a better demonstration of the energies involved when a manlift runs over a modestly small bump or indention.  Have employees watch this video and I bet they wear their harness – EVEN WHEN “I am JUST moving it”

  You’re eyes do not deceive you!  That is a truck mounted manlift that has been removed from the truck and moditifed.  I think somone has been watching too many transformer movies!

In the past few decades many things have changed in the world of Hazardous Materials and many of these changes DIRECTLY IMPACT our process safety efforts and our PSM/RMP compliance.  The debate will continue as to where DOT stops and OSHA begins when it comes to compliance coverage regarding loading and unloading Hazardous Materials, but this article is more about process safety and what we can...

One problem that seems to run wild across all businesses is DOT’s “25 feet and in line of sight” rule for unloading/loading hazardous materials.  Just this year (September & November 2012) the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued LOIs on the matter, reaffirming their expectation in regards to this rule.  The letters stated… …...