Archive for the ‘Regulations’ Category
Monday, October 19th, 2009
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), there were 11 deaths every 100,000 workers in India in 2005. This number was two in the US and 0.01 in Japan. What is scary is that the number of fatalities may be significantly underestimated because of absence of a formal accident tracking ...
Posted in Chemical Accidents, Process Safety, Regulations | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
OSHA inspected 42 refineries between June 2007 - February 2009. Below is a summary of violations for 30 refineries.
[Table=12]
The average penalty for each violation is $ 5,650.
The average penalty per refinery is $ 98,300.
Posted in OSHA PSM, Regulations | No Comments »
Monday, October 5th, 2009
Interesting post by John "Dust Explosion" Astad.
Where's the Beef? Previous Training Material
Posted in Regulations, Training | No Comments »
Friday, October 2nd, 2009
Recently, members of Congress sent a letter to OSHA chief, Jordan Barab, to expand PSM standard to address reactive chemicals.
Reactive chemicals have gained increasing attention since the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released its report on reactive chemicals in 2002. Now I have been working in the area of reactive chemicals ...
Posted in OSHA PSM, Reactive Chemicals, Regulations | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
Last year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) is not meeting its statutory mandate by investigating major chemical accidents.
CSB’s Statutory Mandate
The Clean Air Amendment Act (CAAA) of 1990 directs CSB to
(1) investigate and report on the cause or probable cause of any accidental chemical ...
Posted in Process Safety, Regulations | 3 Comments »
Monday, September 14th, 2009
On July 27, 2009 OSHA launched its National Emphasis Program (NEP) targeted at chemical facilities. The NEP will operate as a one-year pilot program during which OSHA will conduct planned inspections of chemical facilities.
Which Chemical Facilities Will Be Reviewed?
The Chemical NEP will focus on facilities in the following regions:
Regions ...
Posted in EPA RMP, OSHA PSM, Regulations | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009
Inherently safer philosophy represents a slightly different approach to risk mitigation. Instead of focusing on mitigating risks, an inherently safer alternative focuses on eliminating the hazards.Let us look at couple of inherently safer examples.
HF Alkylation
There are four alternatives available to perform alkylation:
Pure HF: Potential high ...
Posted in Inherent Safety, Process Safety, Regulations | 3 Comments »
Monday, August 10th, 2009
RAGAGEP stands for Recognized And Generally Accepted Good Engineering Practices.
Specifically, OSHA 29 CFR 1910.119 (D)(3)(ii) states:The employer shall document that equipment complies with recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices.
EPA RMP also refers to RAGAGEP in 40 CFR 68.73:Inspection and testing procedures shall follow recognized and generally accepted good engineering ...
Posted in EPA RMP, OSHA PSM, Process Safety, Regulations | 1 Comment »
Monday, July 20th, 2009
A few weeks ago I met with Cesar de Leon who is a pipeline safety expert (http://www.pipelinesafetyconsultant.com) - he worked at the DOT Office of Pipeline Safety for over 23 years and currently resides in Boerne, Texas. Cesar was telling me about legal and technical issues arising in the ...
Posted in Natural Gas Pipelines, Regulations | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
Chemical Facility Anti Terrorism Standard (CFATS) came into force on Nov. 20, 2007 as a Federal Regulation under 6 CFR 27. This set into motion the process of assessing threats to chemical plants and refineries in the U.S.
Photo Courtesy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8177037@N06/ / CC BY-NC 2.0 ;
Step 1: Is Your Facility ...
Posted in Regulations, Security | 2 Comments »
