Category Archives: General Information

General Information

FUD in the news!

PSM people love their acronyms and we all have our favorites. One of mine is “FUD” or Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. I generally use this acronym when discussing how the media reports stories about topics I am familiar with. It … Continue reading

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Five Year Independent Full Inspection

IIAR Bulletin 110, Section 6.4.4 calls for something called an “Independent Full Inspection”: At least every five years, the annual inspection of the vessels and heat exchangers shall be carried out by a competent person independent of immediate commercial and … Continue reading

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Hansen Relief Valve Recall

If you use Hansen relief valves, this bulletin might be of use to you: . Hansen recently discovered that certain pressure relief valves sold to our customers for industrial use from February 16, 2011 to April 4, 2013 are more … Continue reading

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So, you need a PSM coordinator…

The Situation: Several times a month I get a call from a recruiter or a facility that desperately needs to fill a PSM coordinator position. They quickly learn something that many people in our industry are unaware of – quality … Continue reading

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How should I FIX a PSM program?

This might be one of the most common questions we’re asked: How do I resurrect a PSM program that has been neglected? Our answer is that you should deal with these broken programs no differently than if you are starting a … Continue reading

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First, Do no Harm!

The OSHA Law Blog has a nice post up called “Best Practices? Or Safety Run Amuck” about the unintended consequences that can occur when people rationalize their opinions as “Best Practice” without bothering to consult with the workers who are expected to … Continue reading

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PSM Citations – A year broken down by Industrial Classification

OSHA has posted a breakdown of PSM citations so you can compare industry groups that have been cited by Federal OSHA during the period October 2010 through September 2011. I plugged this data into Excel and ran some numbers between … Continue reading

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A few links I wanted to share…

First up, S.K. Energy Consulting: There are some simple to understand articles on Floating Head Pressure and Optimizing Defrost. Check out the articles archives which contain almost 80 newsletters going back several years. Very informational site that I am surprised I … Continue reading

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Ammonia citations under the General Duty clause

Most of us in the Ammonia Refrigeration industry are dealing with a PSM covered process, but there are some of us who are not required to implement PSM because we don’t have a threshold quantity. The real worry for those … Continue reading

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The coming (and current) operator shortage…

One of the biggest issues facing an Ammonia refrigeration facility today is finding qualified and competent technicians to operate and maintain the system. It’s not uncommon for me to receive 2-3 emails or calls a week asking for help finding … Continue reading

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