Piping Leaks: The Most Common Process Hazard

“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 [...]

By |2023-08-14T17:49:00-05:00June 8th, 2023|PHA, Process Safety, Risk Assessment|Comments Off on Piping Leaks: The Most Common Process Hazard

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

Occupancy: Getting It Right

“I don’t worry about the bullet with my name on it. Can’t do anything about that. It’s the bullet addressed to ‘Occupant’ that I worry about.”  — Drew Schmidt I don’t get as much junk mail as I used to.  Now, I get junk emails and junk texts. When I do get junk mail, however, [...]

By |2022-03-10T18:38:15-06:00March 10th, 2022|PHA, Process Safety, Process Safety Management|Comments Off on Occupancy: Getting It Right

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?

Risk Reduction: Any Credit for Mechanical Integrity?

“People give us credit only for what we ourselves believe.”  — Karl Gutzkow Several years ago, in a paper and presentation to the Global Congress on Process Safety (GCPS), PSM experts from OSHA observed that while it is common to see a mechanical integrity (MI) program listed as a safeguard in a PHA, this is [...]

By |2021-12-09T16:27:42-06:00December 9th, 2021|PHA, Process Safety Management, Risk Assessment, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Risk Reduction: Any Credit for Mechanical Integrity?

Piling On: One More Safeguard?

“Some safety professionals, in the name of ‘zero-injuries’, will heap regulation after regulation on a job until the organization rebels and simply refuses to comply.”  — Phil La Duke There was a time when getting ready for winter meant making sure you had enough firewood to heat your cabin until spring. If you didn’t, your [...]

By |2021-12-02T15:08:52-06:00December 2nd, 2021|PHA, Process Safety, Process Safety Management|Comments Off on Piling On: One More Safeguard?

Just Paint? Fire and Explosion in Ohio

“Never underestimate the power of a fresh coat of white paint.”  — Jeremiah Brent Shortly after midnight on Thursday, April 8, there was a fire and explosion at the OPC Polymers unit of the Yenkin-Majestic Paint facility in Columbus, Ohio. One employee died, five employees were hospitalized, and four others were also injured. “But it’s [...]

By |2021-04-15T18:05:18-05:00April 15th, 2021|Chemicals, Current Events, Process Safety, Process Safety Management|Comments Off on Just Paint? Fire and Explosion in Ohio

How Likely? Your Guess is As Good As…

“For what it's worth, a good streak doesn't jinx you, and a bad one, unfortunately, does not mean better luck is in store.”  — Leonard Mlodinow When someone tells you that they took a calculated risk, they almost certainly are not speaking the truth, to you or to themselves. That’s because there were almost certainly [...]

By |2020-11-05T14:30:31-06:00November 5th, 2020|Process Safety, Risk Assessment|1 Comment

Breaking the Law: Conservation of Recklessness

“Be afraid. Be very afraid.”  — Geena Davis as Veronica Quaife in The Fly, directed by David Cronenburg Try as we might, we safety professionals cannot make people want to be safe. The challenge then, is to make them safer than they want to be. The Law of Conservation of Recklessness There is not officially [...]

By |2020-06-25T14:52:18-05:00June 25th, 2020|Process Safety, Process Safety Management, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on Breaking the Law: Conservation of Recklessness

What We Know: Another Explosion in Houston

“All I know is what I read in the papers.”  — Will Rogers When there is a catastrophic release of highly hazardous chemicals, I want to know about it. I want to know what happened, why it happened, and what I can learn to keep it from happening again. I go to news accounts. All [...]

By |2020-02-03T20:35:41-06:00January 30th, 2020|Chemicals, Current Events, Workplace Safety|Comments Off on What We Know: Another Explosion in Houston
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