New Safety Video on “Hazards of Hot work” in chemical plants

Washington DC, April 20, 2012 – The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) today released anew safety video detailing a fatal 2010 hot work accident that occurred at the DuPont facility near Buffalo, New York. The video, features a computer animation showing how hot work being conducted on top of a tank led to a deadly … Read more

How to classify hazardous areas?

This is the question that many people ask themselves. There are so many standards and practices, so different from each other. You have the Class, Division & Group classification in North America and the Zone and Group system in Europe, Asia and Australia. The NEC also talks about Zones in Article 505 and there is … Read more

Can using Gas detectors simplify hazardous area classification?

Is it possible that if we use gas detectors to continuosly monitor the explosive limits in a classified (hazardous) location, we could manage it better? Of course! If you recall, the area classification concept itself is based on the amount of time in a year, an explosive gas mixture (or a combustible dust-air mixture) is … Read more

Gas Detector calibration & testing-ideal frequency

In a typical large chemical manufacturing plant or facility, typically there may be hundreds of gas detectors and gas monitors that warn operators about lurking hazards related to leaking chemicals and vapors. These detectors are installed during the plant startup or possibly are added after a few incidents or as the result of HAZOP or … Read more