“The first cut is the deepest.” — Rod Stewart Most of our work regards process safety hazards: the potentially fatal hazards involving chemical fires, explosions, and toxic releases. Frequently, our clients also ask for our help with industrial safety hazards: the potentially fatal hazards involving slips, trips, and falls, and contact with objects. Recently, though, [...]
“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 [...]
“Did you ever notice, there’s no blue food? Whenever I say that, people say, ‘Ha! What about blueberries?’ But no-o-o…blueberries are purple.” — George Carlin My wife loves blue food. She has George Carlin to thank for that. It’s not because George Carlin’s comedy convinced my wife to love blue food. It’s because George Carlin’s [...]
“You need to have redesign because familiarity breeds a kind of complacency.” — Timothy White When a hazardous incident occurs, we often hear a single word offered as an explanation: “Complacency.” Maybe it’s true, but is it helpful? You will never hear someone come to the defense of complacency. Complacency is universally regarded as undesirable. [...]
“The love of a dog is a pure thing. He gives you a trust which is total. You must not betray it.” — Michel Houellebecq A week ago, Vader, a police dog in the Arnold Police Department (APD), died from heat exhaustion after his handler found him in a hot patrol vehicle. Arnold is a [...]
“If you don’t get better, staying the same is probably not good enough.” — Chris Mullen If a bowler always—always—bowls a perfect 300, they are as good as a bowler can be. If other bowlers also develop that level of skill, they cannot beat a perfect 300. The best they can do is tie. There [...]
“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 [...]
“Do nothing that is of no use.” — Miyamoto Musashi I have been in several facilities recently that used bump caps as head protection. I make it a practice to follow the safety rules of facilities where I am visiting, because I believe it important to set a good example and to show that I [...]
“The reason I talk to myself is because I’m the only one whose answers I accept.” — George Carlin I was recently astonished to hear someone talking about OSHA-required hard hat color codes. “Yeah, and green is for any who works in forestry,” they said. I wanted to contradict them on the spot but stopped. [...]
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” — often misattributed to Albert Einstein I don’t spend much time in court rooms. I’m not a lawyer. I tend toward law-abiding behavior, so I’ve not been a defendant. I refuse to be an expert witness. (Lawyers seem to want me to follow [...]
