On July 20, 2020, a 35-year-old worker was fatally injured while working on a road construction project in New York state. The cause was severe heat illness, often called Heat Stroke. The…

In 2021, three contract workers at a facility in La Porte, Texas, were removing the actuator from a plug valve. The actuator was being removed so the valve could be used as…

Case study1An operator was screening a pharmaceutical powder by manually loading a mechanical vibrating sieve. The sieved powder was collected below in a stainless steel drum on a dolly with insulating (nylon)…

An incident occurred on a 70-foot (21m) tall equipment platform when a contractor pipefitter applied excess torque to tighten flange bolts on a heat exchanger outlet pipe containing gaseous hydrogen chloride (HCl),…

An audit team was touring a newly installed load/unload station. A team member saw two hose reels near the station, both with the same-colored hose and the same connectors. One was labeled…

This month marks the 40th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster where highly toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) was released from a storage tank. This event caused thousands of fatalities. None of the safeguards…

Process Safety communities around the world are working together to present the 1st International Process Safety Week [IPSW] on 2-6 December 2024. Process Safety needs relentless vigilance. The IPSW is intended to…

Thirty-five years ago, 85,000 pounds (39 metric tons) of process gas, mostly ethylene, were released from a plastics plant in Pasadena, Texas. The cloud ignited two minutes later. Debris flew as far…

We have seen movies of 1500’s era warriors preparing for battle. They sharpen swords, test their shields and don their armor and helmets. Leaders explain the plans for the ensuing conflict, and…

In Figure 1., an older section of piping had corroded, but a decision was made to continue operation until the next inspection. The piping failed, released hot, flammable liquid, that formed a…