SOURCE: OSHA
January 19, 2019
January 15, 2019
Engulfment accident
A temporary worker was fatally injured after falling through a sugar hopper and becoming engulfed by sugar. The fatality occurred in a marine cargo warehouse operation, where bulk
granulated sugar from ships is transported to the warehouse for storage, bagging, and distribution. Sugar clumps often prevented the sugar from flowing freely through a hopper onto a conveyor
belt during bagging. Two or three times per shift, workers would manually break up the clumps. This fatal incident occurred when the temporary worker was breaking up sugar clumps with a pole/
shovel while standing on a hardened sugar bridge at the top of the hopper. The sugar bridge collapsed. As the worker fell to the bottom of the hopper, his legs went through the chute where
he was engulfed by sugar and suffocated.
SOURCE: OSHA
granulated sugar from ships is transported to the warehouse for storage, bagging, and distribution. Sugar clumps often prevented the sugar from flowing freely through a hopper onto a conveyor
belt during bagging. Two or three times per shift, workers would manually break up the clumps. This fatal incident occurred when the temporary worker was breaking up sugar clumps with a pole/
shovel while standing on a hardened sugar bridge at the top of the hopper. The sugar bridge collapsed. As the worker fell to the bottom of the hopper, his legs went through the chute where
he was engulfed by sugar and suffocated.
SOURCE: OSHA
January 11, 2019
Fatal accident
Three employees were working on a leaking crude oil flow line that connected a production well to its tank battery. They dug a trench to access the leaking flow line and cut out a 6-ft. long section from the pipe using a cold cutter. Two of the employees attempted to thread the cut on the flow line with a manual pipe threading machine (threader) but the dies on the threader were dull. Therefore, the workers asked the office to have new dies for the machine delivered to the site. Instead of installing the new dies in the manual pipe threader that was used earlier, the dies were installed in an electric pipe threader. Two of the employees got in the trench with the electric pipe threader and started to thread the exposed pipe when flammable vapors were ignited by the electric pipe threader. As a result, a flash fire engulfed the trench in flames. The third employee discharged two fire extinguishers to extinguish the fire. The two employees that were in the trench were hospitalized with second and third-degree burns to their arms, neck and faces. One of these employees died at the hospital. The other burned employee was hospitalized and released at a later date.
SOURCE: OSHA
SOURCE: OSHA
January 7, 2019
January 3, 2019
December 31, 2018
December 28, 2018
December 25, 2018
December 22, 2018
December 19, 2018
December 16, 2018
December 12, 2018
JR gestures | The Japan Times
JR gestures | The Japan Times: Dear Alice, Until recently I lived in Tokyo and commuted on the JR Chuo Sobu Line from Kameido Station. I made it a practice to ride in the last compartmen
December 8, 2018
Safety And Reliability: Two Sides Of The Same Coin
Safety And Reliability: Two Sides Of The Same Coin: Maintenance and reliability efforts are critically important in today’s industrial environment where increasingly complex and interdependent equipment are utilized.
December 3, 2018
Another Bhopal Anniversary.....
Time flies, but for the people who died a gruesome death on 2nd/3rd night, 1984, time was irrelevant. Today, we are in the cusp of technological innovations in process safety management, but the moot point is....can technology alone prevent disasters? Its people who make decisions, decisions that may compromise process safety and that could lead to a loss of containment incident. I am always of the view that technology can only be an enabler, if properly used.
There is a welcome change in India. Increasingly, boards of directors of chemical companies are focusing not only on occupational health and safety, but also on process safety. This is a welcome change. Lets pledge not to have another Bhopal again.
There is a welcome change in India. Increasingly, boards of directors of chemical companies are focusing not only on occupational health and safety, but also on process safety. This is a welcome change. Lets pledge not to have another Bhopal again.
November 30, 2018
Choke clearing incident
A senior
maintenance member of a two-man crew, and another employee were working from
an elevated work platform. The platform was mounted on the back of a
trailer, which was mounted to an asphalt tank. The employees had begun
bypassing the normal asphalt storage tank to prepare for its five-year
to seven-year cleaning. They placed a bypass valve in position to route
the asphalt from the permanent tank to the temporary, trailer-mounted
tank. Most of the asphalt piping was heated with a steam jacket
encircling the pipes. However, the piping that ran from the bypass valve
to the temporary tank was encircled with tubing that was heated by
steam. The employees complained that the steam tubing, also referred to
as steam tracing, was not wrapped tight enough, thereby preventing the
pipe from getting hot enough to turn the hardened asphalt back to its
liquid (melted) state. The employees then attempted to repair the
clogged pipe. As was reported to be the normal practice, they went to the end of the asphalt piping outlet and began heating
the last bend of the piping with a propane torch. The piping outlet was
located directly over the top of the manhole opening of the heated
asphalt tank. The tank was reported to be 300 degrees to 400 degrees
Fahrenheit, at that time. During the site visit, approximately five
hours later, the tank temperature gauge read approximately 260 degrees
Fahrenheit. After an undetermined amount of time that the employees were using the propane torch to heat the piping, an explosion
occurred in the asphalt tank. A witness described the explosion as a
flame which shot 30 feet above the manhole cover and quickly descended
back into the tank. This witness also stated that he could no longer
observe the employees standing on the platform. Employee #1 remained on
the platform and suffered asphalt burns and fractures to his face, where
an item impacted it during the explosion. Employee #2 fell from the
work platform, approximately 9 feet 5 inches to the concrete surface.
Employee #2 suffered asphalt burns to his body and face, in addition to a
hip fracture. A radio call for emergency response was broadcast
throughout the company. The company Emergency Response Team doused the
flames and provided initial first aid to Employees #1 and Employee #2.
Both employees were transported to the hospital.
Source:OSHA
Source:OSHA
November 26, 2018
November 22, 2018
November 18, 2018
November 14, 2018
November 10, 2018
Minimizing Fire and Explosion Hazards in dusty systems
Minimizing Fire and Explosion Hazards in Dusty Systems:
Having honest conversations about material handling hazards allow risks
to be properly addressed, thereby reducing fire and explosion threats.
November 6, 2018
November 2, 2018
12 Tips for Centrifugal Pump Safety
12 Tips for Centrifugal Pump Safety: Centrifugal pumps are used in industrial settings, and there are several steps that should be followed to ensure safe and efficient pump operation.
October 29, 2018
On April 6, 1994, a unit operator was conducting
rounds of the coker unit when he observed a leak coming from the
mechanical seal of the heavy gas oil pump of coker unit #1. The operator
decided to seek assistance; the head unit operator and six or seven
unit operators responded. The operators placed water and steam on the
leak to suppress the vapor from the seal. The head unit operator decided
to shut down the pump and transfer the product to the secondary pump.
As the operator shut down the primary pump, the mechanical seal blew,
causing a vapor cloud to generate from the seal. The operators continued
to put steam and water on the seal and isolated the pump from the pipe
line. The remaining product in the pipe line leading to the primary
heavy gas oil pump vaporized, leading to the dispersion of the vapor
cloud. The operators who responded were wearing bunker gear and several
wore emergency respirators. Those with respirators isolated the pump
from the pipe line by closing the suction and discharge valves. The
operators who were not wearing emergency respirators stationed
themselves upwind of the vapor cloud and put water on the cloud;
however, the wind changed direction several times, exposing unprotected
operators to vapors. Employees #1 and #2, two unprotected operators who
responded to incident, were brought to Hospital to
be treated for inhalation of hydrocarbons. Employee #1 was hospitalized.
Source: OSHA
Source: OSHA
October 24, 2018
Hexane Vapors Ignited By Static Electricity; Worker Burned
Employee #1 was standing at the exit end of a conveyor, peeling off a build up of hexane adhesive from the inside of a stainless steel dip tank. A static discharge of electricity, apparently generated by the peeling action, caused a flash fire. Employee #1 suffered second degree burns on the back of his hands and his upper chest and neck. The tank is 12 inches by 15 inches by 22 inches in size. The employee was pulling adhesive from the back side of the tank when the fire started. All the equipment in the area is grounded and bonded and approved for the location. The flash point for hexane is -23 degrees.
Source:OSHA
Source:OSHA
October 21, 2018
October 17, 2018
Explosion isolation flap valves provide reliable low-cost explosion protection
Explosion isolation flap valves provide reliable low-cost explosion protection: New explosion isolation flap valves are a reliable and cost-effective way to mitigate the risk of dust explosions propagating to upstream equipment.
October 14, 2018
October 10, 2018
October 6, 2018
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