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?

The Good Old Days: Never Again

“Nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days.”  — Doug Larson It’s hard to imagine the New York skyline without the Statue of Liberty. The Paris skyline without the Eiffel Tower. The San Francisco skyline without the Golden Gate Bridge. The Saint Louis skyline without the Gateway Arch. But [...]

By |2022-11-03T15:06:31-05:00November 3rd, 2022|Workplace Safety|1 Comment

Is There a Season of Death? Work-Related Fatalities

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to harvest.”  — Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 When October rolls around and plans for Halloween are being made, thoughts often turn to autumn as a time [...]

By |2022-10-27T15:11:51-05:00October 27th, 2022|Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Is There a Season of Death? Work-Related Fatalities

Process Safety: Addressing Risk or Dread?

“The risks that scare people and the risks that kill people are very different.”  — Peter Sandman I often wonder if work in process safety is a misallocation of resources. The leading cause of work-related fatalities is transportation, at about 40%. The next three (of seven causes identified by the Bureau of Labor Statistics), all [...]

By |2022-01-06T19:10:09-06:00January 6th, 2022|Chemicals, PHA, Process Safety, Process Safety Management, Risk Assessment|Comments Off on Process Safety: Addressing Risk or Dread?

BLS Fatality Statistics for 2019: Like a Shark

“A relationship, I think, is like a shark. You know? It has to constantly move forward or it dies.  And I think what we got on our hands is dead shark.”  — Woody Allen, in Annie Hall The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases their workplace fatality statistics in December for the previous year. So, here [...]

By |2020-12-24T19:52:22-06:00December 24th, 2020|Workplace Safety|Comments Off on BLS Fatality Statistics for 2019: Like a Shark

Workplace Safety: As Good As It Gets?

“What if this is as good as it gets?”  — Jack Nicholson as Melvin Udall in As Good As It Gets, directed by James L. Brooks The year 2009 was first time I ever studied a graph of work-related fatality rates in the U.S. The data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics was available for [...]

By |2020-07-09T16:27:25-05:00July 9th, 2020|Current Events, Workplace Safety|2 Comments

2018 BLS Fatality Report: Has Anything Changed?

“The more things change, the more they remain the same.”  — Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr When I was a young engineer living in a small town in central Massachusetts, I would walk into the town center to pick up groceries and go to the post office. On the way, there was a body shop. I got [...]

By |2019-12-26T16:34:36-06:00December 26th, 2019|Workplace Safety|Comments Off on 2018 BLS Fatality Report: Has Anything Changed?

Dia de los Muertos: Remembering the Dead

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  — George Santayana Our offices on Cherokee Street exist in the midst of a vibrant Hispanic community. So here in our neighborhood, Dia de los Muertos is in getting in full swing and will be observed through November 2. Dia de los Muertos, the [...]

By |2019-11-09T22:22:19-06:00October 31st, 2019|Chemicals, Current Events, Process Safety, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Dia de los Muertos: Remembering the Dead

In the Line of Duty: Workers’ Memorial Day

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."  —John F. Kennedy In 2016, the most recent year for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics has released data, 5190 Americans died in the line of duty.  They were loggers and librarians, [...]

By |2018-05-29T13:59:21-05:00April 26th, 2018|Current Events, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on In the Line of Duty: Workers’ Memorial Day
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