DEVELOPING STORIES

Info CRAIM – Fact sheet #1

Following the publication of the Environmental Emergency Regulations, 2019 (SOR/2019-51), specifically the new companion document `` Technical Guidelines for the Environmental Emergency Regulations 2019'' from Environment Canada, the CRAIM with its new Sheet # 1...

read more

Proccess safety BEACON – November 2020

Some equipment such as vibratory conveyors and screens are meant to move, but in most other equipment, vibration is not desirable. It can lead to piping and equipment damage including premature failure. A new compressor system was starting operation (Diagram A) The...

read more

Proccess safety BEACON – October 2020

On August 4, 2020, a massive explosion occurred in Beirut, Lebanon that killed at least 160 people, injured  more than 5,000 and left an estimated 300,000 people homeless*. At this time, no estimate of damages or cause of the explosion are...

read more

Proccess safety BEACON – September 2020

An employee used alcohol-based hand sanitizer, according to current recommendations for COVID-19 personal hygiene. After application, but before the liquid sanitizer had fully evaporated and dried, the individual touched a metal surface where a build-up of static...

read more

Proccess safety BEACON – August 2020

There have been many fires and explosions in our industry over the years due to ignition during spark-producing Hot Work. The May 2020 Beacon covered the fatal consequences from one such event. One element of preparing for Hot Work is to check for – and prevent – the...

read more

Process safety BEACON – March 2020

At a wastewater facility in Santa Paula (Southern California), on November 18, 2014, a vacuum truck explosion sprayed hazardous material over the site and sent dozens, including three firefighters, to hospital. Sodium chlorite, an oxidizing agent, was identified in...

read more

Proccess safety BEACON – July 2020

An explosion on October 13, 2002, propelled large fragments of debris offsite, some landed near crude oil storage tanks. Three people were injured, but fortunately, no fatalities occurred. Steam leaking through manual block valves heated crude Mononitrotoluene (MNT)...

read more

Proccess safety BEACON – June 2020

Can a “fail open” valve fail closed?. Clearly the answer is YES or we would not have asked the question! On piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs) or other process safety information (PSI), valves may be indicated as “fail open,” “fail closed,” or “fail in...

read more

Proccess safety BEACON – May 2020

On November 9, 2010, in upstate New York, USA, a contractor was welding new support brackets on a tank for water-based polymer slurry. The area outside the tank had been monitored for flammables and approved for hot work, but the inside of the tank was not tested. An...

read more