“It’s Probably Water”: Is That Good Enough?

“You can’t trust water. Even a straight stick turns crooked in it.”  — W. C. Fields ChrisSchmidt and I recently visited several distilleries on Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail. After tasting one particularly strong whiskey, she reached for a tall glass of clear liquid to chase it down. “Yeah, that’s probably water,” said our tasting guide, hinting [...]

Incident Safety Investigations: Who Should Lead Them?

“Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.”  — Voltaire Early in my career, our boss assigned a colleague and me to investigate an incident that was still having a significant impact on the plant. Being an arrogant know-it-all, I mean, an engineer, I was confident that I already knew what [...]

By |2025-03-20T09:21:45-05:00March 20th, 2025|Process Safety Management, Workplace Safety|0 Comments

Gambling With Safety: Acceptable Risk vs. Tolerable Risk

“How often misused words generate misleading thoughts.”  ‑ Herbert Spencer I once worked for an organization where senior managers freely expressed their differences of opinion. Often, they would dismiss a colleague’s position, saying, “That’s just semantics.” It became easy for me to conclude that semantics, the meaning of words and statements, were trivial. I know better [...]

By |2025-03-06T10:09:11-06:00March 6th, 2025|PHA, Process Safety, Process Safety Management, Risk Assessment|Comments Off on Gambling With Safety: Acceptable Risk vs. Tolerable Risk

Tick Tock, Tick Tock: Is It Time for a PHA Revalidation?

“Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping, into the future.”  — Steve Miller The Process Safety Management (PSM) standard, 29 CFR 1910.119, states in (e)(6) that “At least every five (5) years after the completion of the initial process hazard analysis, the process hazard analysis shall be updated and revalidated by a team meeting the requirements [...]

By |2025-01-23T10:56:23-06:00January 23rd, 2025|PHA, Process Safety, Process Safety Management|Comments Off on Tick Tock, Tick Tock: Is It Time for a PHA Revalidation?

Process Safety: Summertime Slip

“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 [...]

By |2025-01-16T09:54:52-06:00January 16th, 2025|Process Safety, Process Safety Management|Comments Off on Process Safety: Summertime Slip

Recommendations: Evolution of an Approach

“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 [...]

By |2025-01-09T10:31:25-06:00January 9th, 2025|PHA, Process Safety, Process Safety Management|Comments Off on Recommendations: Evolution of an Approach

Process Safety Concerns: Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling

“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 [...]

By |2025-01-08T09:15:00-06:00January 2nd, 2025|Chemicals, Current Events, Process Safety, Process Safety Management, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Process Safety Concerns: Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling

Risk Management: Are Hurricanes Really Getting More Frequent?

“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 [...]

By |2024-11-22T13:05:43-06:00November 22nd, 2024|Current Events, PHA, Process Safety Management, Risk Assessment|Comments Off on Risk Management: Are Hurricanes Really Getting More Frequent?

Hot Work Permits: Has the EPA Created a New Fire Hazard?

“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 [...]

By |2025-01-14T13:53:02-06:00October 10th, 2024|Current Events, Process Safety, Process Safety Management|Comments Off on Hot Work Permits: Has the EPA Created a New Fire Hazard?

Restarting a Plant: Do You Really Need a PSSR?

“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 [...]

By |2025-01-14T13:55:36-06:00September 26th, 2024|Chemicals, Current Events, PHA, Process Safety, Process Safety Management, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Restarting a Plant: Do You Really Need a PSSR?
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