Monday, December 27th, 2010
Below is a list of top five blog posts for this year.
1. SO2 vs. H2S: Which is more toxic?
2. Physical Explosions: LNG Rapid Phase Transitions (RPT)
3. Nitrogen Asphyxiation Hazards
4. Natural Gas Pipelines: Is there a Safer Alternative?
5. 174 Times and then KaBoom
Happy holidays. See you next year.
Posted in Business Risks, Chemical Accidents, Process Safety, Risk Analysis | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
Readers of this blog are familiar with the biofuel incident trend that I have written about in previous posts.
https://risk-safety.com/risksafetynewsite/category/biofuels/
Based on what I have researched, the incident frequency of a fire/explosion in biodiesel plant is 10 weeks, i.e. every two and half months there is a fire or explosion in a biodiesel ...
Posted in Biofuels, Chemical Accidents, Fires and explosions, Incidents, Process Safety | 3 Comments »
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
OSHA Process Safety Management (PSM) program is nearly two decades old and I believe that the 14 PSM elements provide a good basic framework for facilities to create a safety program.
What OSHA PSM lacks is quality metric.
Let me explain further.
For example, one of the elements of the OSHA PSM is emergency planning. As a part of ...
Posted in Emergency Response Plan, OSHA PSM, Process Safety, Regulations | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) are a part of today’s corporate growth strategy. As a part of M&A due diligence various critical business issues are evaluated. But what about safety performance of the company you are looking to acquire or merge with?
You will say that most M&A in oil and gas/chemical ...
Posted in Business Risks, Process Safety, Risk Analysis, Safety Culture | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
When you are driving on a highway, usually there is a speed limit. If you exceed this limit, a cop can give you a ticket.
In Houston, most highways have a speed limit of 65-70 miles per hour…although most drivers appear to assume it implies “90-mph is okay”.
Let us say the ...
Posted in EPA RMP, OSHA PSM, Process Safety, Regulations | No Comments »
Monday, August 24th, 2009
Process Safety has evolved significantly since the introduction of PSM in 1992. Here are top five challenges facing the process safety community today.
1. Human Error
One of the reasons “zero incident plants” is a myth is the potential for human error. We cannot take away human intervention and the possibility of ...
Posted in OSHA PSM, Process Safety, Safety Culture | 1 Comment »
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 ...
Posted in OSHA PSM, Process Safety | 5 Comments »
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 ...
Posted in Biofuels, Fires and explosions, Incidents | 7 Comments »
Sunday, April 27th, 2008
In 1992, OSHA promulgated the final rule for Process Safety Management (PSM) of Highly Hazardous Chemicals. PSM standard has 14 elements intended to eliminate or mitigate the consequences of releases of highly hazardous chemicals which may be toxic, reactive, flammable, or explosive. The presentation below briefly describes the 14 elements ...
Posted in OSHA PSM, Process Safety, Regulations, Risk Management | 2 Comments »
Sunday, April 27th, 2008
Chemical industry has evolved dramatically since the first sulfuric acid manufacturing plant was established in the 18th century. Modern day chemical plant is an engineering marvel producing valuable chemicals necessary for the societal progress. Although safe for the most part, chemical industries have witnessed a few significant accidents in the ...
Posted in OSHA PSM, Process Safety, Regulations, Risk Management | No Comments »
