“We sometimes freeze the specimen with liquid nitrogen, which is extremely cold, you know. This is another technique we use now – but the specimens are not alive.” — Lennart Nilsson I recently facilitated a HazOp where the process required both very hot heat transfer media (steam and hot oil) and very cold heat transfer [...]
“Don’t be misled by History, or any other unreliable source.” — Will Rogers I remember when I lost faith in safety data sheets – SDSs. Well, they were called Material Safety Data Sheets – MSDSs – then. I was a young engineer, and the only engineer, at a start-up. My boss, the owner, assigned me [...]
“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 [...]
“To be beyond any existing classification has always pleased me.” — Boyd Rice Every distiller understands that they are working with extremely explosive hazards. There is ethanol, a flammable liquid. And there is milled grain, a source of combustible dust. Despite this, when I visit distilleries, I often see areas that should be electrically classified [...]
“If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.” — Harry S. Truman For decades, I’ve told people that OSHA requires thermal protection on surfaces over 140°F (60 C) up to a height of 7 feet. People just accepted that because a) I was the expert and b) it made sense. Recently, though, [...]
“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 [...]
“You may reasonably expect a man to walk a tightrope safely for ten minutes; it would be unreasonable to do so without accident for two hundred years.” — Bertrand Russell Many of us face a dilemma when it comes to fall hazards. Particularly when it comes to maintenance. The hazards are unavoidable, the consequences of [...]
“Unnecessary noise is the most cruel absence of care that can be inflicted on the sick or the well.” — Florence Nightingale I grew up in an age of loud rock ‘n roll. I, like one in six people of my generation, suffer some hearing loss. To save the hearing that I still have, I [...]
“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 [...]
“Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.” — Benjamin Franklin The most common hazard we encounter during a HazOp is a leaking pipe. Not the most severe and not the highest risk. Just the most common. But we always encounter it. Why? Because pipes leak. All pipes, whether or not [...]
