Process Safety in Flight: Attack of the Drones

“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”- Bill Gates As technology advances and improves, new tools are developed that can be used to change procedures and [...]

By |2023-08-11T16:30:45-05:00May 4th, 2023|Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Process Safety in Flight: Attack of the Drones

A Second Wind

“Time is the fire in which we burn.”- Delmore Schwartz A resin and rosin manufacturer in Brunswick, Georgia reignited in the afternoon on April 15th after catching fire that morning. Sources cite changing winds as a possible reason for reignition, a natural occurrence out of human control. Tornados, hurricanes, and earthquakes are consistently on the [...]

By |2023-08-11T16:20:22-05:00April 20th, 2023|Current Events, Process Safety Management, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on A Second Wind

Cooking with Love: Multitasking in the Control Room

“There is time enough for everything in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at once, but there is not time enough in the year, if you will do two things at one time.”  — Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield When our children were young, we ate a lot of [...]

By |2023-08-14T15:50:17-05:00April 6th, 2023|Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Cooking with Love: Multitasking in the Control Room

Ventilation: What is Adequate?

“There is nothing that this age, from whatever standpoint we survey it, needs more, physically, intellectually, and morally, than thorough ventilation.”  — John Ruskin I worked on a project once that required me to spend a lot of time in the control building. It was a substantial building with a kitchen and breakroom, several offices, [...]

By |2023-02-23T16:51:53-06:00February 23rd, 2023|Process Safety, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Ventilation: What is Adequate?

Preventing Profit Over Safety: OSHA’s New Reliance on Penalties

“OSHA has issued new enforcement guidance to make its penalties more effective in stopping employers from repeatedly exposing workers to life-threatening hazards or failing to comply with certain workplace safety and health requirements.”  — Department of Labor press release, January 26, 2023 There are two common complaints about OSHA citations and fines after a fatal [...]

By |2023-02-02T15:41:50-06:00February 2nd, 2023|Current Events, Process Safety, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Preventing Profit Over Safety: OSHA’s New Reliance on Penalties

Exhaust Ducts: When Safeguards Have Their Own Hazards

“The guard shall be such that it does not offer an accident hazard in itself.”  — 29 CFR 1910.212(a)(2) Machine guarding It’s hard to imagine any safeguard that doesn’t pose its own burden. Safety shoes are heavy and make a worker less nimble. Side shields on safety glasses impair peripheral vision. Interlocks introduce the prospect [...]

By |2023-01-19T16:56:25-06:00January 19th, 2023|Process Safety, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Exhaust Ducts: When Safeguards Have Their Own Hazards

Using CSB Incident Reporting to Spot Trends: Will We Do It?

“You can have data without information, but you cannot have information without data.”  — Daniel Keys Moran Last summer, we talked about the Chemical Safety Board’s compilation of incident data since their reporting rule became effective in March 2020. Companies experiencing catastrophic releases that result in one or more fatalities, one or more in-patient hospitalizations, [...]

By |2023-01-12T16:12:05-06:00January 12th, 2023|Chemicals, Current Events, Process Safety, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Using CSB Incident Reporting to Spot Trends: Will We Do It?

Avoiding the Streetlight Effect: How Does the CPI Really Get Safer?

“The battle of getting better is never ending.”  — Antonio Brown There’s an old joke about someone looking for their keys under a streetlight. A passerby offered to help but after a while, asked, “Are you sure this is where you lost them?” “No, I lost them over there in the park.” “Then why are [...]

By |2023-01-05T15:25:30-06:00January 5th, 2023|Process Safety, Process Safety Management, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Avoiding the Streetlight Effect: How Does the CPI Really Get Safer?

The Latest Work Fatality Data: Are We Getting Better?

“It’s often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Very, very, very often said.” – Daniel D’Addorio The end of one year and the beginning of a new year is often a time of reflection and planning. Reflection on what we did right [...]

By |2022-12-22T17:54:53-06:00December 22nd, 2022|Workplace Safety|Comments Off on The Latest Work Fatality Data: Are We Getting Better?

Process Safety: Tornadoes in December

“The potential changes to particular provisions of the current PSM standard that OSHA is considering include:  8. Clarifying paragraph (e) to require consideration of natural disasters and extreme temperatures in their PSM programs, in Response to E.O. 13990.”  — OSHA, 20-Sep-2022 call for Stakeholder comments I grew up in the Midwest. I’ve lived in Joplin, [...]

By |2022-12-16T00:06:38-06:00December 16th, 2022|Current Events, Procedures, Training, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Process Safety: Tornadoes in December
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