Industrial Fire Prevention

A textbook example of a flash fire, explosion, secondary explosion, and criminal negligence from the Sarnia Observer. "the amount of dust in the air made it impossible to see from one end of the shop to the other." Trial continues Monday Fireball set off explosion in Veolia shop By Neil Bowen , Sarnia Observer Wednesday, July 12, 2017 6:47:10 EDT PM  Sarnia court A fireball from an explosion in a dust collector set off another explosion inside a Sarnia shop during a 2014 incident that killed one worker and injured others. Veolia Environmental Services and a company manager, Anthony Lavoratore, were charged with criminal negligence following the Oct. 25, 2014 fire and explosion that killed 37-year-old Jason Miller. Miller was one of six men injured. He died days later in hospital. Charges were laid in 2015 and the trial began du...

From ISHN Behavior-based safety has been practiced since the Ford Motor Company used it to increase seat belt usage in 1970s. Controversy has dogged it ever since, especially in the 1980s and 1990s when the BBS bandwagon attracted a small army of consultants. Organized labor and worker rights activists protested long and loud that BBS was nothing more than a blame the worker tactic. Thousands of businesses spent millions of dollars implementing BBS programs because they believed it was a way to involve workers in their own safety and it was “the next new thing” in safety. On Wednesday, June 23, a plenary session at ASSE’s Safety 2017 drew between 4,000 and 5,000 attendees to a spirited discussion on “BBS at cross roads.” What puts BBS at a cross roads in 2017? It’s the rising popularity of Human and Organizational Performance (HOP), called by some the anti-BBS initiative. HOP holds that human error is inevitable and should be expected. The organization of work ...

From ISHN On Thursday, June 22, Dr. Tim Ludwig drew an audience of 500 attendees at ASSE’s Safety 2017 to his presentation on stopping the ever-popular blame game as a safety practice and instead striving for a better understanding of human behavior. According to Dr. Ludwig, a professor at Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, if you want to “turn the lights off on your safety culture ” go and blame the worker. By going on the offensive and pointing out that injuries are their fault, a learning moment is lost, Dr. Ludwig said. It’s better to use the incident to learn from behavioral science how to find the true root cause of human behaviors, he said. There is still much relevance and much to be gained from behavioral science, said Dr. Ludwig, who also consults globally as the Safety-Doc. Says Dr. Ludwig: “Our human tendencies result in interactions that hurt the safety of our workers and the effectiveness of the systems we put in place to protect them. One ...

From Recycling Today Auto shredding plant operators regularly face the risk of fire. Fighting fires Features - Shredder Application Focus Auto shredding plant operators regularly face the risk of fire. Here’s how one company is addressing it.May 31, 2017 Curt Harler © Arenacreative | Dreamstime.com The best problem is the one avoided. That is especially true when it comes to fires at automobile shredding facilities. “Just because you have guards on your site doesn’t mean they are walking everywhere and monitoring heat,” says Donnie Brewer Jr., president of  DCC (Don’s Car Crushing) Metal Recycling. He is the third generation of  the Brewer family to manage the company, which was founded during World  War II by his grandfather Dewey Brewer as Hemingway Scrap Iron and Metal and renamed by his father, Donnie Brewer Sr., in 1973 when he took over the business. With locations in the South Carolina cities of Conway,  Hemingway, Holly Hill, Ladson, Sell...

From Chemical Processing Tackle Combustible Dust Risks Right Following a roadmap may help you assess your hazards and develop a mitigation strategy By Karen Wear, Donaldson Company Jun 13, 2017 Whether you’re a chemical engineer designing production equipment or one supervising operations and maintenance, you need to be aware of combustible dust risks. Increasing fines and incidents, such as the deadly 2013 explosion at the West Fertilizer Company site near Waco, Texas, are impacting the chemical industry. This article provides a roadmap for evaluating your dust and process hazards, and suggests steps to plan a suitable mitigation strategy for your unique risk profile. The Regulatory Landscape Chemical processors must balance product output with the responsibility to address risks posed by dust-producing materials and processes. How you address such risks impacts production and how your plant fares during inspections from a growing host of regulators....

From Inc.com This Email From Elon Musk to Tesla Employees Is a Master Class in Emotional Intelligence When the going gets tough, true leaders take action. By Justin Bariso Founder, Insight @ JustinJBariso Elon Musk. CREDIT: Getty Images Tesla, the electric-automobile manufacturer led by famed CEO Elon Musk, has struggled mightily with safety over the past few years. California nonprofit Worksafe , a worker safety advocacy group, recently made headlines when itreported that the injury rate at Tesla's Fremont, California, plant was more than 30 percent higher than the industry average in 2014 and 2015 . Musk insists, however, that safety is the number one priority at Tesla. He claims that recent actions, like the company's hiring thousands of employees to create a third shift and reduce excess overtime , have made a major impact in lowering the...

UPDATE: Traffic routes around Cambria explosion -  From WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and Sports UPDATE (WKOW) -- The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has issued alternate routes around the scene of an explosion in Cambria. They say all lanes of State Highway 146, both directions, are blocked at Cemetery Road. Authorities say northbound traffic should take Highway 16 to US 151 to Highway 73. Then take 73 to Highway 33 west back to 146. Southbound traffic should reverse these directions. UW Hospital has confirmed with 27 News they are treating five patients from the explosion. Those five people were airlifted to the hospital. No word on their conditions. ***** UPDATE (WKOW) -- Columbia County Sheriff Dennis Richards more than a dozen people were injured and at least one person was killed in an explosion in Cambria. There were at least 16 employees working at the time at Didion Milling plant. Two were able to get out safely and th...