“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, [...]
“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 [...]
“Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.” — Bertolt Brecht Of all the recent revisions to the EPA’s Risk Management Planning (RMP) rule, 40 CFR 68, the requirements around Safer Technology and Alternatives Analysis (STAA) have probably gotten the most attention. For those facilities covered by Program [...]
“Paper doesn’t save people. People save people.” — Dan Peterson I don’t know anyone in a regulated community that likes regulations. Some may accept them because they bring clarity in a confusing situation, but no one likes them. Even with the best of intentions, someone that must comply with a lot of regulations worries that [...]
“If they knew it was water-reactive, why did they store it in a warehouse with automatic sprinklers?” — Chris Schmidt, retired pre-school teacher Wikipedia is a “go-to” source for quick information. Regarding the fire at the BioLab facility in Conyers, Georgia, however, it has this disclaimer: “Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and [...]
“Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” — Carl Bard Constellation Energy just signed a 20-year deal with Microsoft to provide clean energy—or at least carbon-free energy—from Unit 1 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant. The plan is [...]
“If at any time [federal] inspectors identify something that needs to be addressed, our team does so immediately.” — Elizabeth Ward, company spokesperson for Boar’s Head Provision Co. I was once a Scoutmaster. One of the most coveted items that my younger Scouts could earn was the Totin’ Chip, which granted them the right to [...]
