Category Archives: Incidents

The “PSM Lessons Shared” project

Recently, during a PSM class, I had a student with an all-too-common issue: How do I change the incident reporting culture at my facility? As a new PSM coordinator he was struggling because he couldn’t get his operators to report … Continue reading

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CSB Releases Safety Video on 2009 Fatal Blast at NDK Crystal – Animation Depicts Stress Corrosion Cracking; Vessels Were Not Inspected or Tested

Today the CSB issued a report on a 2009 vessel failure that it blamed on Stress Corrosion Cracking. There are some interesting lessons to be learned about incident investigation in this report since the mechanism that led to the vessel’s … Continue reading

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NRC Call – When is it necessary? When is it a good idea?

Most people involved with Ammonia Refrigeration understand that if we have an unintentional release of ammonia in excess of 100 pounds over a 24hr period, we have to report it to the National Response Center (among others) immediately or face … Continue reading

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How do I deal with recommendations to my program?

You should frequently get recommendations for improving your PSM program through the PSM elements of Employee Participation, Process Hazard Analysis, Incident Investigations, Mechanical Integrity audits, Compliance Audits. Often, these recommendations are worthwhile improvements to your system that are worthy of … Continue reading

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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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West Texas Damage Photos

I took a lot of pictures today while touring the damage in West, Texas. The album is open for viewing but I warn you that I am not a photographer and sometimes take a half dozen pictures of the same thing hoping … Continue reading

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Does your Emergency Action Plan provide for your employees in the event of a plant evacuation?

A northern Kentucky food processing plant experienced an ammonia leak that forced the evacuation of about 160 workers. The employees sat in groups on the lawn outside the building waiting to get belongings like car keys for nearly 11 hours. … Continue reading

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A debate on Management of Change

Recently a group of safety yahoos got together to discuss a situation: You have a freezer with racking. The racking needs to be removed for XXXX reason. You hire a contractor to do the job. You evaluate and train the … Continue reading

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Bostik Fines – Following up on Audit Recommendations MATTERS!

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Bostik Inc. for 50 alleged violations of workplace safety standards following a March 13 explosion at the company’s Middleton plant in which four workers were injured. … Continue reading

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Tanner agrees to install $345,000 in ammonia leak detection systems

“While Tanner did take some actions to address the risks of an accidental release of ammonia at its facility in Rhode Island, Tanner failed to address the risk associated with the fact that its facility is not staffed except when … Continue reading

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