The NSW Resources Regulator has published a fact sheet on its human and organizational factors data review.  The Regulator engaged the Keil Centre to independently review its human and organizational factors analyses over the past five (5) years, where HUMAN ERROR and DELIBERATE NON-COMPLIANCE played a role in incidents.  The review looked at 267 incidents at 180 at surface mines and 87 at...

Responding to a report of workers being exposed to anhydrous ammonia, federal investigators found a Madison ice cream plant lacked sufficient process safety management procedures to control the release of hazardous chemicals.  Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined the Ice Cream facility failed to document that equipment was being...

On December 14, 2023, OSHA published its revised Compliance Directive for Process Safety Management standard 1910.119, effective January 26, 2024. This new version is in Q7A format and was done nicely, although there are a number of things in the answers that I am sure will be challenged.  I have highlighted some of the interesting (albeit I believe the correct answer).  For example, QA-31...

HOP is NOT an Element of a Safety Management System (SMS) HOP principles are HOW we manage our SMS   We see a lot of discussions on social media regarding the role of HOP and Psychological Safety, two methods I fully embrace should be used in OSH and PSM. However, I view these two methods as HOW I manage my safety management system (SMS), and they do NOT replace my SMS (as some “experts”...

Let’s talk about DE-incentivising businesses to properly manage Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), even at the most basic level. OSHA now requires businesses to report their injury and illness logs, which they will use to identify workplaces needing a compliance inspection. They are doing this due to their lack of adequate resources, and they want the businesses and industries to self-report...

Sweating the “small stuff” matters in process safety management.  Meeting the details of our chosen RAGAGEPs matters!  Although I am often told, “That is a picky audit finding,” it is what it is.  Far too many facilities believe that designing their process piping to be bolted flange assembly vs. welded joints is somehow easier; in some ways, it is more difficult. ...

We have discussed the critical role of “torque” in constructing our chemical processes.  I catch a lot of flack for my insistence on this critical function, for which I am genuinely surprised.  But our piping design and construction RAGAGEP (ASME B31.3) is pretty clear on the matter, and now OSHA and EPA have “caught on” and are issuing citations where there is an...

The refrigerant in this accident is R-32 (Difluoromethane), described as ” a colorless, odorless, mildly flammable gas. “Its ASHRAE rating is A2L, making it a CAT1B flammable gas if OSHA adopts Rev. 7 of the GHS this year. These A2L “mildly flammable gases” are exempt from many of the requirements other flammable gases must meet (e.g., electrical classifications, mechanical...

Another pressuring test “gone bad”.  I want to remind anyone who wonders how to DEFINE and QUANTIFY a “safe distance” when piping is being pressure tested, especially when that test is a “pneumatic” test.  ASME PCC-2–2022, Repair of Pressure Equipment and Piping, Mandatory Appendix, 501-III, Safe Distance Calculations for Pneumatic Pressure Test is...

One of the most critical fundamentals of Occupational Safety and Health and Process Safety, yet it is wildly unknown and rarely used in most workplaces we visit.  Still, in the 21st century, we find employers handing out PPE like candy on Halloween without understanding the limitations of that PPE and even if the PPE protection level is adequate for the hazard level.  This information and...

I may be biased, but you would be hard-pressed to find a bigger fan and believer in TapRoot®. I love TapRoot®, but I reserve it for significant incidents. 5-Why’s is an excellent tool for less mature safety management systems (SMS). As I like to say, don’t blame the tool – look to the user for failures in applying/utilizing the tool. Rarely do I stop at 5-Whys when I am using the tool. ...

On August 27, 2016, at about 8:26 a.m., a railroad tank car sustained a 42-inch long crack in its tank shell shortly after being loaded with 178,400 pounds of liquefied compressed chlorine at the Axiall Corporation Natrium plant in New Martinsville, West Virginia. Over the next 2.5 hours, the entire 178,400-pound chlorine load was released, forming a large vapor cloud that migrated south along the...