What do you see wrong with this pic? There are two issues with the pic. One is shown (Hint: it’s not in an OSHA standard, but is in the NRTL testing standard), and the other is a common violation (the #1 violation regarding the improper use of these safety cans) that is also visible in […]
A Jan. 7 fire flash that injured four (4) employees was caused by employees burning isopropyl alcohol, a Illinois State Fire Marshal report on the incident said. The media previously reported that the incident was caused by a propane heater, which was not the case. The state fire marshal’s report said that three (3) of
RIP On January 21, 2025, an explosion at the Port of Barcelona resulted in one death and several injuries. The explosion occurred in a methyl acetate tank during maintenance work. WARNING! Video may be upsetting to some viewers.
This video is a great example of two failures: 1) Hazardous Communications and 2) Emergency Response recognition. There is no way he should have walked into the spill, much less into the spray to stop the leak. That was gasoline—NOT diesel; even if it had been diesel, his actions were still out of line. We
Contributing to the severity and duration of the fire was the lack of storage tank fail-safe control valves and internal fire valves and the location of the control building in the containment area where fuel leaks are likely to occur. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of the fire at the
I think most EHS professionals will agree that bulk tanks of hazardous materials need some means of “secondary containment”. This practice has been in place for my entire career and rarely gets challenged. However, in recent years I have come across several scenarios where either the facility/unit designed the process to function this way or
A video I posted over two years ago has come full circle. A citizen (some may call him homeless) was allowed to sit (and smoke) within 20′ of a gasoline tanker unloading operation at a gas station. His actions may not have been his sole demise, as we can see in the video evidence that
A fuel tanker was filling the station’s gas reserves when two vehicles began fueling at the pumps. According to security camera footage, not long after, one of the pumps suddenly bursts into flames as a result of built-up static electricity.
Common root causes of incidents are: (in no specific order)
This is another Top 10 question on flammable liquids safety I get from clients, cold calls, referrals, and friends. Most are familiar with the testing limits for path to ground on bonding/grounding stations of 10/25 ohms. In my previous post tonight I explained where these 10 and 25 ohm limits came from and how they
Theoretically, a resistance to ground of 1,000,000 ohms is considered capable of dissipating a static electrical charge. So why then does my safety program (and NFPA 77) require a resistance to ground of 10 or 25 ohms OR LESS, depending on the metal used in my system? (e.g. end-to-end resistance of a bonding wire should
