Because the safety relief valve performs such a vital role in protecting the propane tank, it should be maintained and repaired by licensed propane professionals only. … HomeRead More »

I have been swamped with calls for my propane cylinder compliance booklet I have put together over the years. On a forum in Keller’s on-line site, I answered questions and one of the more popular one was regarding storing these cylinders. The fact that got many people’s attention and request for the booklet was the position of how a cylinder can be stored. Most users store them on their...

Many people do not know that acetylene cylinders are constructed differently than regular compressed gas cylinders. They contain a porous material and acetone, in which the gas dissolves and becomes practically stable. The porous filler absorbs the acetone and eliminates large voids in which decomposition might occur. Store and use these cylinders in an upright position to prevent the loss of...

I know H2 is not a flammable liquid, but this shows how little it takes to set off a vapor or gas cloud. … HomeRead More »

The OSHA 10 & 30-hour cards will cost you starting in July 2011. I have some VERY RELIABLE information that this is going to happen, and from what I have been able to determine, it is without OSHA’s blessing. It seems that the OTI centers have some type of formal committee that has been discussing this for some time now and it was a UNANIMOUS decision last month to begin charging $5 for each...

EPA is announcing the release of “Guidance for Conducting Risk Management Program Inspections under Clean Air Act Section 112(r)” (EPA 550-K-11-001, January 2011).  This document updates and supersedes the “Guidance for Auditing Risk Management Plans/Programs under Clean Air Act Section 112(r)” of August 1999.  The new document includes updated EPA policy on involvement...

LOPA is a Layer of Protection Analysis and is a type of PHA that looks at the actual layers of protection a particular scenario would have. As you know, process safety is built upon the fundamental concepts of prevention, threat, and mitigation. Hence, we want to prevent the scenario from even starting, but if we can’t, then we want to protect our assets (including people), and then we want to...

After some good debate in a LinkedIn forum, I came to the conclusion that this practice should not be called an “industry practice” as there were a lot of people in the industry that did not do it and had never heard of it. … HomeRead More »

Every year an estimated 2000 dust explosions occur in factories and refineries in Europe. There are approximately 50 reported dust explosions in the UK alone – that’s roughly one every single week. But these explosions are not solely the preserve of chemical or wood processing companies.  A staggering 24 per cent of them occur within the food industry.  In fact dry ingredients such...

NFPA 654 provides a framework from which to address combustible dust hazard identification and control. Currently developed by the Committee on Handling and Conveying of Dusts, Vapors, and Gases, NFPA 654 prescribes a step-by-step approach, beginning with characterizing the properties of the combustible particulate solid. These steps form the core requirements of the standard and are the subject...

Two workers lost their lives when the supplied breathing air cylinders they were breathing from contained low levels of oxygen. The two workers were working on top of a scaffold, sandblasting the interior of a boiler. A third worker was outside the entry to the boiler to make sure the breathing lines did not become tangled and served as a communications link. … HomeRead More »

E-mail from VP @ Crosby: I have uploaded the two documents he refers to in his e-mail to my LinkedIn Profile. Please see the attachments regarding the counterfeit alerts that have been circulating recently. The Crosby Group, Inc. has prepared a letter addressing the issue, and also has received a clarification letter from the OSHA Office of Maritime Enforcement. Both of these documents are attached...