January 24, 2017

Disaster preparedness - excellent guide

 http://www.crh.noaa.gov/Image/bis/AmericanRedCross_TalkingAboutDisaster.pdf
From: Talking About Disaster: Guide for Standard Messages. Washington, D.C., 2007.
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January 21, 2017

Learning from Incidents

 The late Dr Trevor Kletz in his book "learning from incidents"" writes:
"This book has been written to remember the dead and injured and to warn the living"
 Let us follow his advice and learn from all the incidents that have happened...this blog is a small effort to educate the living before they become the dead!! I have been posting since 2009 and hope that the contributions have made a small impact. If so, I am greatly satisfied...
Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

January 13, 2017

THE HAZARDS OF FRP CHEMICALS

Many plants use FRP lnes and tanks for various services. When they are in need of repair, in situ repair is carried out by re applying the resin. Be careful and warn your maintenance and operation personnel about the hazards of the chemicals used for repair. Read the
following accident report by OSHA:

Accident: 14293922 -- Report ID: 1054196 -- Event Date: 12/07/1987
InspectionOpen DateSICEstablishment Name
10524949412/07/19873732Marlin Boats Inc
A GROUP OF EMPLOYEES WERE CONSTRUCTING A FIBERGLASS BOAT IN THE CHOPPER GUN AREA. THEY WERE WORKING WITH STYRENE MONOMER, METHYL ETHYL KETONE PEROXIDE, AND FIBERGLASS. THEY WERE RUNNING LOW ON MEK PEROXIDE, SO THEY ADDED THREE PARTIALLY FULL CONTAINERS OF WHAT THEY BELIEVED TO BE MEK PEROXIDE TO THE RESERVOIR. AS EMPLOYEE #1 RESUMED OPERATION OF THE CHOPPER GUN THERE WAS A SUDDEN EXPLOSION AND FIRE. LUCKILY, THE MAIN FORCE OF THE EXPLOSION BLEW AWAY FROM THE EMPLOYEES. THE EMPLOYEE WAS TREATED FOR MINOR CHEMICAL BURNS AND EXPERIENCED A TEMPORARY THRESHOLD SHIFT IN HEARING. LAB ANALYSIS REVEALED THAT THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF STYRENE IN ONE OF THE MEK PEROXIDE CONTAINERS. CAUSAL FACTORS WERE DETERMINED TO BE EMPLOYEE LACK OF TRAINING ON THE PHYSICAL HAZARDS OF CHEMICALS, AND LACK OF LABELLING OF THE MEK PEROXIDE, WHICH CONTAINED STYRENE.

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January 5, 2017

The importance of OEM manuals!

During a routine stroke testing of a shutdown valve, it was found that the valve was not passing the test. A technician who checked the valve heard a hissing noise coming from a fitting on the valve stem that looked like a grease injection point.
The valve had historically been lubricated with grease through the stem injector fitting to aid the performance of the valve. This fitting had been wrongly assumed to be a grease injector fitting. The actual purpose for the fitting was to inject a sealant in the event of a lower stem seal failure. As technicians were unknowingly greasing the cavity between upper and lower stem seal, it caused the collapse of the lower stem lip seal, causing gas to migrate up to the injector fitting.
This is a lesson why we need to read OEM manuals!


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January 2, 2017