PSM Auditor: Coach or Umpire?

“Umpires don’t make the rules.  They apply them…They make sure everybody plays by the rules.  But it is a limited role.  Nobody ever went to a ballgame to see the umpire.”  — Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts A call about doing a PSM audit usually begins with a question from the caller about whether [...]

By |2025-01-17T10:38:58-06:00September 19th, 2019|Process Safety, Process Safety Management, Recommendations, Safety Lifecycle|Comments Off on PSM Auditor: Coach or Umpire?

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

Emotional Stress and Its Effect on Safety

“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion.”  — Dale Carnegie Perfect lives don’t exist.  We’ve all experienced loss, misfortune or pain.  No one is a stranger to emotional stress.  And emotional stress affects work performance, particularly safety.  A study conducted by the U.K. Royal [...]

By |2025-01-17T10:48:09-06:00July 25th, 2019|Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Emotional Stress and Its Effect on Safety

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

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
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