“The issue is that heat can cause metals (and other materials) to expand – and in the cold, to contract – which in turn can impact whether a part is in or out of spec.” — Barbara Osborne You probably understand the idea of thermal expansion: when materials warm up, their atoms vibrate faster, so [...]
“The hardest thing is writing a recommendation for someone we know.” — Kin Hubbard We’ve all heard, over and over, that data without analysis is useless. Well, analysis without recommendations is just as useless. Unfortunately, many young engineers are incredible analysts but then mistakenly believe that their analysis will stand on its own, that the [...]
“Recycling lithium-ion batteries is a complex and inherently risky process.” — Brian O’Connor, NFPA Recently, a lithium-ion battery-powered Cybertruck exploded outside of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. It wasn't the Li-ion batteries that exploded, though. It was a cargo of fuel and fireworks. In the case of the Li-ion battery recycling plant in [...]
“Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was…” — David Byrne, Talking Heads I had such fears. I feared that after seeing the work-related fatality rate climb for two years in a row, we were going to see it climb once again, [...]
“Although OSHA does not have a specific standard that covers working in cold environments, employers have a duty to protect workers from recognized hazards, including cold stress hazards.” — OSHA Winter Weather notice While we have had days that are unseasonably warm, there have already been days that were bitterly cold. And we haven’t even [...]
“You can’t let your failures define you. You have to let your failures teach you.” — Barack Obama Forty years ago, on December 3, 1984, the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India released 45 tons of methyl isocyanate. The official toll of immediate deaths is 2,259 people. Estimates of the final death toll ranges but [...]
“The head of the hurricane research division, Hugh Willoughby, told me that hurricanologists can predict the behavior of storms if those storms behave predictably.” — Erik Larson Hurricane season is officially from June 1 to November 30, so it’s not officially over yet. A look at the Atlantic, however, shows no tropical depressions developing and [...]
“The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” — Rudyard Kipling A few weeks ago, a lot of folks in this area found themselves obsessively scraping the bottoms of their boots. Based on the smell that seemed to be following them around, they were sure that they had stepped in something [...]
“To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” — Thomas Campbell Remembering the dead. For those U.S. military personnel who died while serving, we have Memorial Day, the last Monday in May. For those who died doing their job, we now have the International Worker’s Memorial Day, on April 28. At my [...]
“The first cut is the deepest.” — Rod Stewart Most of our work regards process safety hazards: the potentially fatal hazards involving chemical fires, explosions, and toxic releases. Frequently, our clients also ask for our help with industrial safety hazards: the potentially fatal hazards involving slips, trips, and falls, and contact with objects. Recently, though, [...]
