“Issuance of this Citation does not constitute a finding that a violation of the Act has occurred.” —from OSHA Citation and Notification of Penalty On October 29, 2011, a grain elevator explosion in Atchison, Kansas killed six men—four employees and two grain inspectors. OSHA cited the Bartlett Grain Company’s facility and proposed a fine of [...]
“I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” —Alan Greenspan I once heard a young operator complain, “All we do around here is safety training. Nobody understands half of it and the other half is just common [...]
“Christmas is a season for kindling the fire for hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.” Washington Irving Christmas is also the season for crackling fires in the fire place and carols sung by candlelight. Unfortunately, Christmas is the season for the rare but devastating church fire, when a church [...]
“Air raid, Pearl Harbor. This is not a drill.” —Lt. Cmdr. Logan Ramsey, 7-Dec-1941 'Beauty' Ramsey sent one of the most famous telegrams of history after watching a Japanese dive bomber’s payload detonate in Pearl Harbor. Other telegrams went out that morning, from the Navy Yard and Kaneohe, but they were largely ignored until smoke [...]
“If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.” George Orwell, 1984 We’ve all done it. We’re talking about something terrible and rather than calling it what it is, we choose words that are softer, less harsh. Or we call it something that completely hides our meaning. Instead of talking [...]
“The cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month.” Fyodor Dostoevsky OSHA does not require fire extinguishers. Not in most work places. The fire extinguishers that are in most work places are there because of insurance requirements. To use a fire extinguisher requires going [...]
“Adversity does not build character, it reveals it” -James Lane Allen I have been very interested in what the press has had to say about process safety issues following Hurricane Harvey. I was also very gratified when the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) put out a warning that start-up was one the most dangerous operations [...]
“Red Shirt: In Star Trek, red-uniformed security officers and engineers who accompany the main characters on landing parties who often suffer quick deaths.[” Wikipedia I didn’t see the NBC television series, Star Trek, until it went into syndication, when it became a staple of television viewing for everyone I knew while I was in college. [...]
“Anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac.” George Carlin While work-related fatalities are not a significant portion of all motor vehicle deaths, motor vehicle deaths are a significant portion of work-related fatalities. In 2015, there were 38,300 motor vehicle deaths. Of those, 1,806 were work-related—less [...]
“Defunding the CSB is just plain stupid.” -Mark Rosenzweig, Editor-in-Chief, Chemical Processing It has been a month since the administration announced a list of 19 independent federal agencies that it wants to completely defund in the 2018 budget. Tucked in among the regional economic development agencies and the agencies that support the arts and humanities [...]
