Tag Archives: General

Dairy SPCC exemption, Under-Ride Hazards

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Brian Chapin

These two items are not PSM related but they are of interest to those of us who work in Dairies and Cold Storage distribution warehouses and they are important enough that they merit wider discussion. EPA Exempts Milk From Spill … Continue reading →

Posted in Compliance, General Information, Incidents, SPCC | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Dairy SPCC exemption, Under-Ride Hazards

The Failure of Lean/Six Sigma

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Brian Chapin

I’ve been asked in a few emails to comment on how to apply Lean/Six Sigma to ammonia refrigeration and PSM programs. Short answer: Don’t. The long answer follows but feel free to skip this once your eyes glaze over! I … Continue reading →

Posted in General Information, Standardization | Tagged , | Comments Off on The Failure of Lean/Six Sigma

Garden City Ammonia Program PodCast

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Brian Chapin

I recently had a long conversation with Craig Ward of Garden City Ammonia Program. He turned it into an episode for their GCAP Cool Cast. You can listen to the entire conversation here. As always – feedback is welcome.

Posted in Community Involvement, Compliance, General Information, Good Engineering Practices, Operator Training, Standardization | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Garden City Ammonia Program PodCast

Updated Links

Posted on January 8, 2011 by Brian Chapin

I’ve added a bunch of links concerning ammonia refrigeration and process safety management to the right hand side of the page. A few  contractors, a lot of manufacturers and vendors as well as some other useful sites. If you know … Continue reading →

Posted in General Information | Tagged | Comments Off on Updated Links

Three kinds of Ammonia Operator

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Brian Chapin

Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to work with quite a few Ammonia Operators. Recently I chose to oversee the training of a new operator who had no previous refrigeration experience. In preperation I talked with … Continue reading →

Posted in General Information, Operator Training | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Planning for Future Expansions

Posted on August 4, 2010 by Brian Chapin

It’s always a good idea to plan for additions to your refrigeration system when you install it or improve it. Loads always seem to increase as new production capacity or storage areas are brought on line. Here’s an example of … Continue reading →

Posted in General Information, Good Engineering Practices | Tagged , | Comments Off on Planning for Future Expansions

Benefits of a Trained Professional Ammonia Operator

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Brian Chapin

“Without Standardization, there can be no improvement” That’s one of my favorite phrases from Lean/Six Sigma. Is the person who is in charge of your ammonia system someone who genuinely cares about how your system is running? Are they the … Continue reading →

Posted in General Information, Operator Training, Standardization, System Optimization | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

OSHA vs. EPA

Posted on July 9, 2010 by Brian Chapin

If you are covered under OSHA’s PSM regulation you know that you are covered under the EPA’s RMP regulation as well. I understand why most people focus on the PSM regulations – they are used to dealing with OSHA regulations … Continue reading →

Posted in Compliance | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on OSHA vs. EPA