Seven Questions: The Essence of HazOps

“A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.”  — Francis Bacon There are about a gazillion “best” ways to do HazOps. What they all have in common, however, is that they use worksheets that are set up as tables that look at deviations in a node. For each deviation, a HazOp team considers “Causes”, “Consequences”, “Safeguards”, [...]

By |2019-08-29T14:38:07-05:00August 29th, 2019|PHA, Process Safety, Process Safety Management|Comments Off on Seven Questions: The Essence of HazOps

One Small Step

“If we can put a man on the moon, why can’t we…”  — Nearly Everyone Fifty years ago, humans first walked on the moon. It was and remains a remarkable and courageous feat of technology and determination. Having achieved it, though, most of society lost interest and moved on. Humans haven’t been back on the [...]

By |2019-07-18T13:47:20-05:00July 18th, 2019|Current Events, Process Safety|Comments Off on One Small Step

Yes, But…Hardware Fault Tolerance

“Therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Universita Committeeatum E Pluribus Unum, I hereby confer upon you the honorary degree of Th.D.,… er, ‘Doctor of Thinkology’.”  —The Wizard of Oz Most of our readers understand that for a Safety Instrumented Function—a SIF—to have a particular Safety Integrity Level—a SIL—its Average Probability [...]

By |2025-01-17T10:48:56-06:00July 11th, 2019|Procedures, Process Safety, Process Safety Management|Comments Off on Yes, But…Hardware Fault Tolerance

A Process Safety Hat Trick

“I hated being pregnant, but I never minded being in labor.  I knew I would get a prize at the end.”  — Chris Schmidt, mother of four Things have been a little crazy in Saint Louis for the past week. Founded in 1967, the Blues Hockey Club has finally won a Stanley Cup. Everyone feels [...]

By |2025-01-17T10:51:06-06:00June 20th, 2019|Process Safety, Process Safety Management, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on A Process Safety Hat Trick

SIL Certification: Necessary or Sufficient?

“Contrary to what many parents tell their children, talent and hard work are neither necessary nor sufficient for economic success.”  —Robert H. Frank We are all guilty of telling tales we know to be untrue in order to encourage virtuous behavior. Parents tell their children to be good so Santa Clause will come. OSHA tells [...]

By |2019-05-23T16:10:03-05:00May 23rd, 2019|Process Safety|1 Comment

Doing HazOps the RIGHT Way!

“Watching two engineers argue is like watching pigs wallow in mud. Eventually you figure out that they do it because they like to.”  — Anonymous I’m still learning better ways to do HazOps. And since there are better ways, then what I am doing now couldn’t possibly be the best. So, what is the RIGHT [...]

By |2025-01-17T10:55:08-06:00May 16th, 2019|PHA, Procedures, Process Safety|Comments Off on Doing HazOps the RIGHT Way!

Lab Safety: A Three Phase System

“A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood.”  George S. Patton, Jr. I intended to begin with “A good plan, well executed, is better than a perfect plan, poorly executed,” but when I checked, that’s not what General Patton said.  What he said was “A good plan, violently executed now, is better than [...]

By |2025-01-17T10:55:49-06:00May 9th, 2019|Chemicals, PHA, Procedures, Process Safety, Risk Assessment, Safety Lifecycle|Comments Off on Lab Safety: A Three Phase System

Double Jeopardy: Impossible?

“Everything is impossible until it is done.”  — Robert H. Goddard In 1921, annoyed with ignorant criticism, Robert Goddard published a piece in Scientific American in defense of the potential for travel to the moon. It’s always easier to say something is impossible than to address the potential of it happening. Double Jeopardy When someone [...]

By |2025-01-17T10:57:47-06:00April 25th, 2019|PHA, Process Safety, Process Safety Management, Risk Assessment|Comments Off on Double Jeopardy: Impossible?

An Incident? Don’t Recommend Training!

“It’s not how we make mistakes, but how we correct them that defines us.”  — Rachel Wolchin One of the most common recommendations made as a result of incident safety investigations is “improved training,” especially when the investigation concludes that the incident was the result of an error. It is not because training is so [...]

By |2025-01-17T11:00:20-06:00April 11th, 2019|Process Safety, Process Safety Management, Recommendations, Training|Comments Off on An Incident? Don’t Recommend Training!

“No Harm, No Foul”: Madness

“As they depend, not upon the agent, but upon fortune, they cannot be the proper foundation for any sentiment” — Adam Smith We all believe that people should follow safety rules all the time. Not because there is a harmful outcome every time someone violates a safety rule or commits an unsafe act. Because usually [...]

By |2025-01-17T11:00:53-06:00April 4th, 2019|Current Events, Process Safety, Process Safety Management, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on “No Harm, No Foul”: Madness
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