“Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” — Samuel Johnson Last year, the administration announced its intention to shutter the Chemical Safety Board. The chemical process industries rallied around this life-saving agency, and to our relief, funding was restored, almost, in [...]
“It is your concern when your neighbor’s wall is on fire.” — Horace On November 26, 2025, a fire enveloped a high-rise apartment in the Wang Fuk Court complex that was undergoing significant renovation. The fire killed at least 159 people and took the Hong Kong fire department almost two full days to extinguish. Hong [...]
“But you don’t ever think it would happen to you.” — Kyla Kennedy, server at Stooges Bar and Grill, near SDF (as quoted by CNN) The first time I ever gave any thought to the risk of a plane crashing into a chemical plant was when an acquaintance approached me at a conference with the [...]
“At this time, we have not located any survivors.” — Chris Davis, Humphreys County Sheriff Not long ago, I was at a plant to facilitate a HazOp and LOPA for one of their processes. As is usually the case, my visit included going out to the process, accompanied by my host—an engineer from one of [...]
“Anyone can see a forest fire. Skill lies in sniffing the first smoke.” — Robert A. Heinlein One of my children has a house in The Ville, the neighborhood in north St. Louis that a tornado ripped through in May 2025. Since that tornado, I’ve become adept with a chainsaw, cutting into firewood the felled [...]
“Obsolescence is a factor which says that the new thing I bring you is worth more than the unused value of the old thing.” – Charles Kettering I am the blacksmith at a historic village. I burn coke, coke I make right there on the forge. I start by laying bituminous coal around the coke [...]
“We must be part of the general staff at the inception, rather than the ambulance drivers at the bitter end.” — Lane Kirkland Despite being established under the authority of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, which has not been repealed, the Trump administration intends to discontinue funding the Chemical Safety Board as of [...]
“It doesn’t take many observations to think you’ve spotted a trend, and it’s probably not a trend at all.” — Daniel Kahneman In a December 2022 press release, CSB Chairperson Steve Owens alerted us all to a worrisome spike in CSB-reportable incidents at chemical facilities and the need to focus on winterization to prevent major [...]
“No Watson, this was not done by accident, but by design.” — Sherlock Holmes On Monday, February 17, 2025, after being cleared for landing at the Toronto Pearson International Airport, Delta Flight 4819, a Bombardier CRJ-900, crashed. Buffeted by wind gusts up to 37 mph, the plane hit the runway hard, lost its right wing, [...]
“The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 is repealed. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is abolished.” — the complete text of Section 2 of H.R. 86, introduced by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) I’m not really sure what Andy Biggs hoped to accomplish by introducing his “Nullify Occupational Safety and Health Administration Act” (NOSHA [...]
