Pages

January 30, 2020

Is your forklift properly rated for use in hazardous areas?

At 4:30 p.m. on August 7, 2018, Employee #1 was scooping up the waste from the tank that was on the floor and placing it into the trash can. Employee #2 was driving the forklift to bring in more containers of chemicals. Employee #3 was walking in the warehouse area. Employee #2 was driving a forklift that was not rated to be used in an area that had Class 1, Division 1 flammable chemicals. The employee was bringing additional containers of chemicals in to the mixing room. When he parked the forklift, the vapors that were present in the drain reacted with the hot engine parts and were ignited. Employee #1 received 3rd degree burns on multiple parts of body, which later resulted in death. Employee #2 was hospitalized.
Source:Osha.gov

January 27, 2020

Maintenance Management of Aging Oil and Gas Facilities

Riaz Khan, Ammeran B. Mad, Khairil Osman and Mohd Asyraf Abd Aziz (January 16th 2019). Maintenance Management of Aging Oil and Gas Facilities [Online First], IntechOpen, DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.82841. Available from: https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/maintenance-management-of-aging-oil-and-gas-facilities

January 23, 2020

Thermal Runaway of battery

The Boeing 777 was en route from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia. En route, above the Andaman Sea, to the west of continental Southeast Asia, a sleeping passenger in a business class seat dropped his mobile telephone. When the passenger woke up, and placed the seat in the upright position, the telephone shattered. This caused overheating leading to what is known as thermal runaway of the lithium ion battery in the telephone. A considerable volume of smoke was released, which was concentrated in a small section of the cabin sealed off by curtains.
The captain decided to divert to Phuket International Airport in Thailand. The reason for this decision was the large volume of extinguishing water used and the possibility that the seat was still smouldering. The aircraft made a safe landing.
The airline in question is considering reviewing the protective equipment and the equipment available on board to fight fires caused by lithium-iron batteries. The airline is also investigating the effectiveness of existing passenger instructions for the adjustment of seats in relation to electronic devices that may end up trapped in the seat.
Source: Ducth Safety Board

January 19, 2020

Are you identifying human factors in HAZOP studies?

On 6.9.19, at Amsterdam airport, a Boeing 737, aircraft was taxiing in a northerly direction on taxiway Charlie to runway 18C when it received take-off clearance for that runway. The flight crew then drove on taxiway Delta in a southerly direction and commenced the take-off. Air traffic control noticed this and instructed the crew to stop immediately. The crew aborted the take-off run and taxied back to the start of runway 18C, after which the aircraft took off uneventfully.
Source:Quaterly aviation report, Dutch Safety Board, July-September 2019

Are you identifying human factors in HAZOP studies?