Run To Failure: That’s a Maintenance Strategy?

“What’s wrong with the car? What do you think’s wrong with the car? Damn thing’s broke.”  — Richard Pryor When I was a poor college student, I wasn’t too poor to have an old beater of a car. It was paid for, but I could barely afford gas, much less proper maintenance. So, I tended [...]

By |2025-06-12T13:21:45-05:00June 12th, 2025|Procedures, Process Safety, Workplace Safety|0 Comments

Hazard Communication: Does Whiskey Need an SDS?

“Whisky making is an act of cooperation between the blessings of nature and the wisdom of man.”  — Masataka Taketsura While on a tour of a craft distillery, the distiller (and owner) and I got to talking about the safety aspects of distilling whiskey. The question of whether whiskey needed an SDS came up. It [...]

By |2025-05-15T12:46:01-05:00May 15th, 2025|Chemicals, Procedures, Process Safety|Comments Off on Hazard Communication: Does Whiskey Need an SDS?

Beyond the Limits: Extreme Oxygen

“Oxygen is the vital ingredient for the survival of every cell in our bodies. Too little—or too much—can spell disaster.”  — Venki Ramakrishnan A reader recently complained about OSHA’s insistence on defining the safe limits of oxygen in terms of volume percent: 19.5% by volume to 23.5% by volume. “The fact that OSHA does not [...]

By |2025-05-01T09:33:23-05:00May 1st, 2025|Procedures, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Beyond the Limits: Extreme Oxygen

Process Hazards: Using Compressed Gas to Transfer Liquids

“Science explorers are like an ideal gas. They can expand to fill any volume, but they can only do work under pressure…and the pressure’s on.”  — Robert Ballard Every time that someone at a process facility tells me that they use compressed gas to transfer liquids from one tank to another, I wince. It’s not [...]

By |2025-04-17T10:00:59-05:00April 17th, 2025|Chemicals, Gas, Procedures, Process Safety, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Process Hazards: Using Compressed Gas to Transfer Liquids

The Key Bridge Collapse: Are There Lessons for Us Now?

“Catastrophic bridge accidents are rare, but the number and severity of those due to ship collisions far exceed those due to winds, waves, and earthquakes combined.”  — Committee on Ship-Bridge Collisions (1983) On Tuesday, March 26, 2024, shortly before 1:30 am, the cargo ship Dali drifted into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing the bridge’s [...]

By |2025-01-16T12:26:23-06:00April 4th, 2024|Current Events, Procedures, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on The Key Bridge Collapse: Are There Lessons for Us Now?

Crossing Streams: Safety During Simultaneous Operations

“Don’t cross the streams.” -Egon from Ghostbusters It doesn’t take much for two tasks to interfere with one another out in general industry. Work environments can be quite hectic as the end of a fiscal year approaches, where multiple goals and tasks are being wrapped up. Plant life is not much different, except some of [...]

By |2025-01-16T12:48:15-06:00November 2nd, 2023|Chemicals, Procedures, Process Safety, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Crossing Streams: Safety During Simultaneous Operations

Confined Spaces: What Are They?

“Space is something you have to define. Otherwise, it is like anxiety, which is too vague. A fear is something specific. I like claustrophobic spaces, because at least then you know your limits.”  — Louise Bourgeois A group recently met to discuss locking out a process vessel for entry. They identified the agitator, all of [...]

By |2025-01-16T12:55:13-06:00September 28th, 2023|Procedures, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Confined Spaces: What Are They?

Process Safety: Tornadoes in December

“The potential changes to particular provisions of the current PSM standard that OSHA is considering include:  8. Clarifying paragraph (e) to require consideration of natural disasters and extreme temperatures in their PSM programs, in Response to E.O. 13990.”  — OSHA, 20-Sep-2022 call for Stakeholder comments I grew up in the Midwest. I’ve lived in Joplin, [...]

By |2025-01-16T13:40:02-06:00December 16th, 2022|Current Events, Procedures, Training, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Process Safety: Tornadoes in December

The Shipping News

“Eighty thousand pounds of muscle, blood, and steel in a pile. It’s spectacular.”  — Gary Williams No plant in the chemical process industries wants to make the national news. The local news, where the plant’s scholarships for high school students is covered? Sure. But the national news? The only things that get national coverage are [...]

By |2025-01-16T14:04:46-06:00August 25th, 2022|Chemicals, Procedures, Process Safety, Safety Lifecycle|Comments Off on The Shipping News

Eternal Vigilance: Proof Tests are Essential to Safety

“But, after all, no safeguards are adequate, unless the will to give effect to them fully is present.”  — Jawaharial Nehru I had a truly embarrassing experience a couple days ago. I got a flat tire. The flat tire itself wasn’t embarrassing.  Annoying, yes, but not embarrassing. There are road hazards, and even the most [...]

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