Industrial Fire Prevention

Report Finds 85 Fatalities in The Chemicals Industry Last Year Fri, 11/06/2015 - 3:38pm Andy Szal, Digital Reporter A British chemical engineering group said this week that serious accidents in the U.S. chemical and processing industries resulted in 85 fatalities and more than 600 serious injuries in 2014. The Institution of Chemical Engineers, a professional membership organization, surveyed media coverage of explosions, fires and other incidents in the U.S. last year. The analysis found 228 separate incidents in chemical manufacturing and a number of related industries, including mining, refining, food processing, biotechnology, wastewater treatment, and oil and gas exploration and production. "Many of these incidents commanded just a few column inches, but there are 75 reports that detail fatalities," said Andy Furlong, the group's policy director. "Each one is a grim human tragedy that could have been avoided, had the appropriate safety ...

National Fire Protection Association Blog NFPA 652 - new combustible dust standard Susan Bershad is a Senior Chemical Engineer in the Industrial and Chemical Engineering division at NFPA® and is also the staff liaison for the Combustible Dust project . Susan has been working diligently on NFPA 652 which has the following scope: “This standard shall provide the basic principles of and requirements for identifying and managing the fire and explosion hazards of combustible dusts and particulate solids.” I had a few minutes to talk to Susan about the challenges and importance of the document and about a training event she is hosting on December 3 about NFPA 652 . Q: What was your biggest technical challenge with updating the NFPA 652? A: The biggest challenge for the committee with NFPA 652 was identifying those requirements that are fundamental to all facilities and processes where combustible dust hazards are possible. Q: How is NFPA 652 different from NFPA 654 ...

The OSHA Defense Report OSHA Law Updates from the OSHA Practice Group at Conn Maciel Carey   Breaking News – OSHA Max Penalties Set to Nearly Double November 9, 2015 By Eric J. Conn , Chair of Conn Maciel Carey’s national OSHA Practice Group For as long as I have been practicing OSHA law (more than 15 years now), four things have remained constant: The maximum per violation penalty that OSHA has been permitted by the OSH Act to assign to Serious violations has been $7,000, and for Repeat or Willful violations it has remained $70,000; The Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA makes an annual pilgrimage to the Hill where he or she pounds on the table and demands that Congress enact OSHA reform legislation to increase the maximum penalties OSHA can assign (with common refrains like: “employers can be fined more for mistreating cattle on federal lands than for allowing an employee fatality!”); There has been one iteration or another of such reform ...