Archive for January, 2010
Hydrogen Sulfide leak at Texas oilfield kills one and injures others
Jan11, Garden City, TX- One worker was killed and three others were injured in a Texas gas processing plant, probably due to a leakage of Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) gas. The accident ocurred at an oilfield site in Glasscock county.
They were all working atop a tank battery when apparently one of them fell down, the result of Hydrogen Sulfide’s feared “knockout effect” . The gas is deadly because it has a bad smell in lower concentrations (smells like rotten eggs), but in higher concentrations, it simply desensitizes the human nose, which can no longer smell it and hence the “knockout effect”.
What is surprising in this case is that all of them were reportedly wearing Hydrogen Sulfide gas monitors, that are supposed to measure the H2S concentration in the ambient air and sound an alarm if dangerous levels are detected. It is not clear if the instruments did not work, or whether the workers simply ignored them.
The workers were rushed via an air ambulance to a hospital, but it was too late for one of them. The rest are still serious, although stable.
The incident once again highlights the safety precautions that need to be taken when dealing with Hydrogen Sulfide gas.
For more information about Gas Monitors training please click here.
OSHA cites Murphy Oil facility in Mereaux for alleged Health & Safety violations
MERAUX, La. — The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Murphy Oil U.S.A. Inc. with alleged serious violations of federal health and safety regulations following an inspection at the company’s facility on East St. Bernard Highway in Meraux. Proposed penalties total $85,500.
OSHA’s Baton Rouge Area Office began its investigation July 7 as part of OSHA’s National Emphasis Program (NEP) for Petroleum Refineries.
The investigation resulted in 18 serious violations, including failing to provide an adequate relief system design to prevent possible fire and explosions for the Hydro Cracker unit, to ensure that equipment in the refining process complied with recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices, to sufficiently develop and implement a written mechanical integrity program, to conduct regularly scheduled piping inspections, and to report findings and recommendations from incident investigations.
A serious violation is one in which there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.
“In order to protect workers from potential hazards at high risk facilities, OSHA’s process safety management regulations must be followed,” said Dorinda Folse, OSHA’s area director in Baton Rouge, La. “We are hopeful that this company will take the necessary corrective action to prevent injuries and illnesses.”
For more information please visit the OSHA website at http://www.osha.gov
Everything that you wanted to know about Safety Instrumented Systems but didn’t know whom to ask!
Jan1, 2010 – Miami, FL
Abhisam Software has just announced the release of their much awaited e-learning course on Safety Instrumented Systems. From the sneak previews that were shown to us last week, this course looks to be smashing. A hell of lot of use of Flash based animations and interactive simulations, real world solved problems and easy to understand text makes this a no brainer for anybody who wishes to understand Safety Instrumented Systems.
So if you are an Instrument engineer, Safety Manager, Control Systems engineer or other professional involved in Safety Instrumented Systems (known by various aliases in the process industry like Safety Shutdown Systems, Emergency Shutdown Systems, etc) then you must have this course with you. Consisting of seven modules the course covers the entire gamut of SIS including hazard and risk analysis, safety integrity level, standards, maintenance-the whole nine yards. Plus the price is ridiculously low in our opinion-just $157 for the early birds. If you compare this with the prices of other courses, seminars and books for the content that you will get, its a no brainer! Get it now and the mists around esoteric terms like SIL 3, IEC 61511, etc should all clear away in a jiffy.
Find out more here.
