Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBC) have become very popular in various industries.  They have also become a major pain in the _ss for many safety and process safety professionals as they have become a “catch-all” type of container.  This week, we encountered an IBC permanently implemented as a “process vessel” within a PSM/RMP-covered process.  And as you can...

At 1:00 a.m. on October 23, 2022, an employee climbed into a barley germination tank at a malt manufacturing facility. The turning auger arm inside of the tank was not working so the employee climbed into the tank using a portable ladder. The employee intended to shovel some wet germinating grain away from the vertical helixes to help troubleshoot why the turning arm was not functioning. A coworker...

At 7:27 a.m. on September 19, 2022, an employee was performing welding repairs in a mechanical kettle when the kettle was turned on. The employee suffered crushing injuries when caught between the kettle paddles and the sweeper which were rotating in opposite directions. The employee died due to his injuries. … HomeRead More »

Issue HSE has identified high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in ullage spaces of cargo and slop tanks onboard some FPSOs and FSUs operating in UKCS. The high concentrations (up to 16,000ppm) is above the upper measuring limits of the standard portable gas monitoring equipment generally used onboard tankers and FPSOs, and may be undetected. Outline of the problem Sulphate reducing bacteria...

I can remember “surviving” through safety stand-downs in my career and I can assure you, they were not coffee and donut parties!  The stand-downs back then were TRUE stand-downs where the company halted the tasks/operations that were involved in the accident until the investigation was complete, the root cause analysis was complete, AND the corrective action plans were complete. ...

Most of us know all too well the critical role near-miss reporting plays in achieving excellence in safety.  But this BSEE Safety Alert really does a nice job demonstrating the IMPORTANCE of near-miss REPORTING AND the TRENDING of our near misses to identify opportunities to intervene before a consequence is realized. The alert also has some great tips on how to decrease tagline-related inci...

There is one common theme in all the facilities I worked at during my time as safety and health manager/director… the employees were the ones who would explain to guests how we achieved the level of safety that set us apart from others.  Most guests came to visit thinking they would discover a magic pill that got us from X to Y, what they walked away with was something they never expected. ...

We see a lot of talk about “written procedures” and how they should be minimized in length/detail and in some cases done away with altogether.  I call this rubbish – when done well they can be the cornerstone of a well-executed SMS.  And yes, I subscribe to the practice that some of these procedures will get special attention and we call these “Cardinal Rules”...

Even though this Human Factors model is going on 30 years old, it is still the most widely used and recognizable today.  In my process safety career, Human Factors were intended to be part of all Process Hazard(s) analyses; and although the chemical industry adopted some really good checklists to aid in these analyze’s, they never really drove HF engineering as I had hoped.  Having...

Reviewing safety performance takes a ‘big picture’ overview of the patterns of evidence arising from all forms of monitoring, investigation, and audit to decide whether the overall approach, policies, resources, priorities, improvement targets, and the SMS remain relevant and appropriate in pursuing the safety vision and strategy and cultural development. Taking from the “Five Themes for Excellence...

I am a huge proponent of building a safety process, formally called a Safety Management System, that establishes some critical indicators of how well the process functions.  This is done in the same spirit as how a business measures its production, quality, costs, etc.  But as we all know, anything that gets measured WITHOUT VALIDATION can be manipulated.  Even “leading indicators”...

“Accident-prevention engineers must know why and how accidents occur; they must know the causes of accidents and direct their attack to the removal of those causes, instead of selecting a remedy blindly or arbitrarily.  … HomeRead More »