Safety Forecast for the 21st Century

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

The 20th century was a time of great technological change that forever transformed how we live and work – changes that necessitated the birth and development of the field of Process Safety Management. The early years saw the evolution of mechanization into assembly lines and true industrialization.  Lack of access ...

Fires and Explosions in Biodiesel and Ethanol Facilities

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

In an earlier post, I talked about safety in biofuel plants. Today, I would like to share couple of Google Maps (Source: John Astad of Combustible Dust Policy Institute) that graphically display incidents in biodiesel and ethanol plants.Biodiesel Fires and Explosions Map (click to view)According to the map, there were  ...

Biofuel Safety: Is it time for Bio-PSM?

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

Biofuel production and manufacturing facilities in the United States are increasing rapidly. On August 8, 2005, President Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (H.R. 6) into law. The comprehensive energy legislation includes a nationwide renewable fuels standard (RFS) that will double the use of ethanol and biodiesel by 2012. Biodiesel ...