Ethanol, what is the worry? On May 14, 2007, a tanker carrying 8,000 gallons of ethanol overturned and burst into flames on an interstate in Baltimore, Maryland, killing the driver and sending a burning stream of ethanol into the street below, igniting a row of parked vehicles. On October 22, 2006, an eighty-six-car train carrying ethanol derailed, sending some of the tank cars into a river while...

Although this decision was really about when OSHA can cite an employer for exposure to a hazard.  The company claimed there was none or very little exposure to these unguarded lathe chucks because only one worker used these lathes only once or twice a year; however, OSHA cited for the unguarded equipment based on this level of exposure and the OSHRC affirmed the citation.  During the...

The Chlorine Institute, Inc. (CI) has launched a major initiative to provide a vast majority of its informative technical publications free to key chlor-alkali industry stakeholders via CI’s online bookstore. Twenty-six of CI’s 47 technical pamphlets already have been made available free, including five added so far this year. Five more will be added each quarter for the remainder of the year....

The Chemical Reactivity Worksheet (CRW) is a free program you can use to find out about the reactivity of substances or mixtures of substances (reactivity is the tendency of substances to undergo chemical change). It includes: a database of reactivity information for more than 5,000 common hazardous chemicals; a way for you to virtually “mix” chemicals to find out what dangers could...

Slips, Trips and Falls on same level still leading The estimated direct U.S. workers compensation costs for the most disabling workplace injuries and illnesses in 2006 were $48.6 billion. This finding and many others are presented in the 2008 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index. Produced annually, the Workplace Safety Index identifies the leading causes of the most disabling U.S. workplace injuries...

OSHA answered this question in 2006 in the LOI, Requirement for flame-resistant clothing in petrochemical plant covered by PSM. Although, OSHA states in the LOI that they will cite the employer for 1910.132(a), 1910.132(d), 1910.119(f)(1)(iii)(B) and/or 1910.119(j)(2). OSHA makes reference to NFPA 2113, Standard on Selection, Care, Use and Maintenance of Flame-Resistant Garments for Protection of...

In this final rule, PHMSA is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations to clarify requirements governing emergency response information services provided by arrangement with hazardous materials offerors (shippers). In order to preserve the effectiveness of these arrangements for providing accurate and timely emergency response information, PHMSA is requiring basic identifying information...

This new tool was designed for oil spill responders, but should be useful to many others. ...

Most of us have a LPG tank on site and many of us have multiple tanks lined up next to each other.  As part of their “Coffee Break” training the United States Fire Administration (USFA) has just released a GREAT resource for our engineering groups to aid them when locating these LPG tanks.  Now this is NOT a facility siting aid, but rather an aid to show us how far apart...

We continue to see businesses using many methods to identify their lockout locks, many of which are NOT acceptable to OSHA.  1910.147(c)(5)(ii)(B) states: Lockout and tagout devices shall be standardized within the facility in at least one of the following criteria: color; shape; or size… Most businesses use color, and we can have multiple colors in our program; as long as these colors...

We continue to see businesses using tagout when locks can be used and they dispute us when we attempt to explain to them that locks MUST be used when they can, UNLESS the employer can show that their tags are EQUALLY effective as a lock.  OSHA REQUIRES Tag-Plus-One when using a tag in these situations.  The recent CPL for LOTO states: A key element in demonstrating that the tagout program...

As many of you already know, having good operating procedures that are regularly reviewed and updated is a vital part of the management process and helps ensure safety. Recently, an industry group conducted a survey on five major companies. See the Directors Corner for the survey questions and the responses of these surveyed companies.