Check Valves: Why We Do the Things We Do

“To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.”  —St. Augustine “Check valves are worthless.” Every engineer I know has heard that. Many believe it. Quite a few have said it. Yet, check valves are still made and installed. How worthless could they be? Why Use Check Valves? Check valves are designed to allow flow [...]

By |2025-01-17T11:27:04-06:00November 19th, 2018|Process Safety, Process Safety Management|1 Comment

Things We Worry About: Plane Crashes

“You are now statistically more likely to be elected president of the United States in your lifetime than you are to die in a plane crash. What an amazing achievement as a society! But what we end up focusing on are the catastrophic failures that are incredibly rare but happen every now and then.” – [...]

By |2025-01-17T11:30:03-06:00November 8th, 2018|Current Events, PHA, Process Safety Management, Risk Assessment|Comments Off on Things We Worry About: Plane Crashes

Four Key Points: Applying the Meer Decision to Flammable Storage

“Unlike Humpty Dumpty, the Secretary may not give a word whatever meaning she chooses.”  —Judge Richard DeBenedetto When the Meer Corporation took the bold and relatively unheard-of step of contesting an OSHA citation for violating the Process Safety Management standard (PSM), no one expected them to prevail. The PSM standard includes an exemption for atmospheric [...]

By |2018-11-01T18:32:21-05:00November 1st, 2018|Process Safety Management|1 Comment

A New Enforcement Program: Ammonia and Ammonium Nitrate

“This program is an enforcement tool to emphasize the obligations under existing OSHA standards,”  – Kimberly Stille, OSHA Region VII Administrator When the West Fertilizer ammonium nitrate warehouse north of Waco, Texas caught fire and then blew up on April 17, 2013, killing 15 and injuring 160, much was made of the lack of inspections [...]

By |2025-01-17T11:33:17-06:00October 4th, 2018|Chemicals, Current Events, Process Safety, Process Safety Management|Comments Off on A New Enforcement Program: Ammonia and Ammonium Nitrate

My Process Isn’t Covered by the PSM Standard

“Habits are safer than rules; you don’t have to watch them. And you don’t have to keep them, either. They keep you.”  —Frank Crane You’ve done it! You found a way to operate your process without ever going over the 10,000 lb threshold quantity for flammable liquids or gases. You’ve found substitutes for the toxic [...]

By |2025-01-17T11:41:39-06:00July 12th, 2018|Process Safety, Process Safety Management|Comments Off on My Process Isn’t Covered by the PSM Standard

Human Factors: The Power of Words

“Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately after they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish.”  —Hermann Hesse I was just treated to a full-body pat-down by the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA). For frequent flyers, tales of woe regarding the TSA are like, um, opinions. Everybody has [...]

By |2025-01-17T11:43:02-06:00July 5th, 2018|Current Events, Process Safety Management, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Human Factors: The Power of Words

Abandon-in-Place or Decommission?

“Let go of the attachment, keep the lesson.”  L.J. Vanier On February 16, 2007, a propane fire broke out at the Valero McKee Refinery in Sunray, Texas.  Three workers were injured and the refinery was forced to shut down for nearly two months.  The CSB investigated and determined that water settling out of a propane [...]

By |2025-01-17T11:43:56-06:00June 28th, 2018|Procedures, Process Safety, Process Safety Management|Comments Off on Abandon-in-Place or Decommission?

How Rare is Rare?

“The unlikely combination of potatoes and pasta does appear in some Italian recipes.”  Yotam Ottolenghi People sometimes have a hard time appreciating the difference between risk and consequences. To help, we ask them to imagine the worst thing possible that could actually happen at their plant, but not to say what it is. Then we [...]

By |2025-01-17T11:45:44-06:00June 7th, 2018|Process Safety, Process Safety Management, Risk Assessment|Comments Off on How Rare is Rare?

Top 12 Issues for Facility Siting Studies: What Does OSHA Expect?

“I just let emotion dictate what the arrangement is.”  Jeff Buckley, singer-songwriter Emotion is a great way to approach the arrangement of music. As an approach to the arrangement of hazards in a facility that processes highly hazardous chemicals, however, it leaves a lot to be desired. So, OSHA’s Process Safety Management standard demands that [...]

By |2025-01-17T11:47:00-06:00May 31st, 2018|Process Safety, Process Safety Management, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Top 12 Issues for Facility Siting Studies: What Does OSHA Expect?

Just to be Safe: Can You be Too Conservative?

“I’m a conservative, but I’m not a nut about it.”  George H.W.Bush We’ve all heard it.  “You need to be conservative, just to be on the safe side.”  It’s an article of faith in the safety community.  Like all articles of faith and other religious beliefs, any deviation is heresy with the potential for excommunication.  [...]

By |2025-01-17T11:49:16-06:00May 3rd, 2018|Process Safety, Process Safety Management, Risk Assessment, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Just to be Safe: Can You be Too Conservative?
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