Dust explosions: little known hazards

Hazards of dust and consequences arising out of dust explosions are still little understood by manufacturing facilities that handle dust of variety of materials, let it be, sugar, plastic, floor (wheat/maize/corn/...), metals (iron, zirconium, thorium,uranium, titanium,...), etc. Otherwise, there would have not been so many incidents every year leading to injuries and deaths of so many.
Proper measures like closed ventilation, maintaining humidity, earthing and bonding, flameproof electrical fittings, static discharge stations, cotton uniforms, periodical cleaning,etc will prevent dust explosions and its consequences.
Proper collection and disposal of dust needs to be given due attention.
An article in the following link is good reading material. There are few reports and video in www.csb.gov on the same subject.
http://www.iwatchnews.org/2012/05/29/8957/unchecked-dust-explosions-kill-injure-hundreds-workers?utm_source=iwatchnews&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=rss

Subsidies by governments - what about safety investment?

In an article today, I understood where the huge amounts of subsidies allocated/borne by the government are utilized. Some amount goes to help the poor / middle class people. In this, some amount is also being spent on those who does not deserve because of their high income but possibly because of the difficulty in providing targeted distribution system, such leakages are happening. It is stated that Rs 5,29,000 crore is being the tax breaks given by the government to the corporations, which result is reduced cost of production thus the cost of product sold in the market.
I feel government should also include provision for exemptions on the money spent to improve safety in the work place. And while filing their tax returns, they should include the safety performance by way cost of the accidents (direct and indirect) and this much should be penalized for poor safety. This equivalent amount should be credited in to safety promotion fund account managed by the government for appropriate use. And those who do not incur any cost due to accidents, government can give some exemption either a % of their profits or the amount spent on safety betterment as safety reward by proper adjustment in balance sheets.
I am not an economist, but I feel such measures help in improving safety for the workers in the company.

Something about "Don't scratch silver foil coat with nails"

Today, I saw an e-mail with the following information:

ATTENTION!

Medical research authority of the US have found new cancer in human being caused by silver nitro oxide..

Whenever you buy recharge cards don’t scratch with nails as it contains silver nitro oxide coating and can cause skin cancer...Share this msg with your loved ones ...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I tried to know about information about silver nitro oxide, I found the following blogpost on the same subject, as per which the above information is totally wrong.

http://cyberworldfrauds.blogspot.in/2011/08/scratching-recharge-card-coating-silver.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Search from internet on the same topic (hazards of sliver coat on recharge cards in google search engine) took me to the following post, which is a health study on scratch cards in Nigeria that concludes heavy metal contamination of food after scratching the cards.

http://www.academicjournals.org/jece/PDF/pdf2011/April/Okunola%20et%20al.pdf
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, leaving the information out, we can use some coin to remove the coat on the recharge cards or scratch cards, etc instead of using our nails. The coat is some chemical compound and is better to avoid contact with any chemiclas whenever / wherever it is possible.
If we have to recharge our mobile, we can do the same with credit cards or at the street shop by going physically or if we developed some rapport with him, he can do based on our phone call.

About probability of reactor accidents based on past accidents

In an article, it is stated that the probability of contamination in severe accidents like that of Chernobyl and Fukushima will be far higher than earlier estimates. Though various conditions lead to the probability, the calculation described in the articles gives us an idea of probabilities. Numbers look absurd, but nothing is wrong in being pessimistic and try to improve safety systems.
http://cleantechnica.com/2012/05/24/likelihood-contamination-severe-nuclear-reactor-accidents-higher-expected/

Payback from safety - calculation

http://www.safetyxchange.org/financing-safety/measure-roi-safety-program

Mine accidents - a way to reach the trapped workers

This evening, I was talking about this blog to my father-in-law who is a retired doctor. He told me about his initial working years after education,  about 45 years ago. At that time, he served as a doctor in a hospital located in mines. He told me about an incident involving collapse of mine during drilling in which few miners were trapped. The trapped miners were safe and a way has to be found to reach and rescue them. The authorities tried all possible methods unsuccessfully. Then, on the advise of an employee, they contacted local thieves who used to steal the valuables and make money. One of them, honestly, told the authorities about their secret way to reach the location. Using this approach, all the trapped miners were rescued within a day.

I thought this information though funny but is valuable.

LPG cylinder burst - 5 injured - police book case

In an incident, 5 kids were injured as the mini gas cylinder on which the house wife was preparing food at the time of the incident. Leaking gas caught fire and the house wife tried to extinguish the fire by turning upside down of the cylinder and rubbing over the mud floor. She also put a blanket and poured soap water to extinguish fire unsuccessfully.
The cylinder burst and metal fragments pierced into the bodies of the neighbouring children gathered around the spot. Police booked case against the house wife for causing injuries due to negligent act.
This incident is posted here as many times, cylinder blast is not detailed clearly in the reports. Whether it is gas explosion or bursting of the cylinder will not be stated clearly. Sometimes, people even say gas stove explosion leading misunderstanding of the terms and facts.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/article3439539.ece
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-05-21/hyderabad/31799865_1_cylinder-sridevi-lakshmi

Molten metal contact with water-blast-2 deaths

In an incident, while removing the stuck slag from a blast furnace with the help of a poclainer and rod, the slag along with molten metal steel came out and came in contact with the water resulting in a blast. A worker and a supervisor died in the incident due to fall of hot molten metal. The poclainer also got partially melted.
The furnace was commissioned recently.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/article3374003.ece

It is reported that the contract labour use for critical jobs also is a reason for such accidents. Unless proper training and supervision is not ensured, such incidents are bound to repeat.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/article3379616.ece

Hydrogen balloon fireball injures 140 in Armenia

Balloon fireball injures 140 in Armenia: More than 140 people have been injured after gas-filled balloons exploded at a concert in the Armenian capital ahead of parliamentary polls, officials say.
"The balloons exploded and caught fire after people holding the bunches released them from their hands into the air," a witness told AFP.
From the witness statement, it can be said that the friction between balloons in the bunch while going up could have caused this. As hydrogen can easily diffuse through rubber, it could have caught fire from the friction as the ignition energy for hydrogen is as low as 0.0017 mJ and this could have resulted in bursting of balloons and fireball. One may recall the famous Hindenburg disaster in 1937. Only the quantity of flammable substance differs but reason can be same, that of static charge generated due to friction.
Such incidents were also reported at several places. In an incident, the hydrogen balloons burst in the hands of children who suffered burn injuries.

LINK

Short circuits main cause of fire - is it so?

It is reported that 45% of the fire accidents in Hyderabad are due to short circuits and another 31% are due to lighted cigarette butts. As rightly pointed out by Addl Director of Disaster Response and Fire Services department, people tend to buy cheap quality electrical cables and equipment for buildings resulting in early damage leading to such fire incidents. It is common for investigators to conclude majority of fires to short circuit but the root cause lies in use of improper electrical wiring, switches, and other electrical fittings. Also, people fail to ensure checking the healthiness of cables and others in their building and one should remember that even the best will not come for life. It should be made mandatory to check the healthiness of electrical systems after first 15 years and thereafter once in every five years. It is better to change electrical fittings at regular periodicity, say once in 15 or 20 years. Insurance companies should not pay any compensation if the fire is due to short circuit and they should insist on certificate for healthiness of electrical systems before renewing the policies.


http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-04-23/hyderabad/31386060_1_fire-accidents-fire-incidents-fire-safety

Contractor and mason arrested for building collapse

In an incident of building collapse in which five workers were buried alive, police arrested the contractor as well as the mason of the building and charged them under section 304 of Indian Penal Code for causing death. Construction safety draws little attention unless otherwise reputed agencies are involved and these agencies takeup projects  only when they are of high value.
Being daily wagers, labourers are unable to demand safety at work and work under dangerous conditions to fill their stomachs. Though, Building and Other Construction Workers Act 1996 and Rules are in existence for more than a decade, its implementation is still questionable. Safety officers working for construction agencies are also toothless and they work or forced to work to the wishes of their employer and little attention is paid to the safety of the workers. Safety in such works can be improved only when the government inspectors conduct more inspections and penalize violators instead of charging the violators after the occurrence of the incidents.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-04-24/hyderabad/31391977_1_building-collapse-town-planning-school-building

Your Place: Rid your home of toxic chemicals - KansasCity.com

Your Place: Rid your home of toxic chemicals - KansasCity.com

LINK

Chemical agent plant construction paused to improve safety » Local News » The Richmond Register

Construction of a pilot plant was stopped by Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass to review safety systems, procedures, create safety awareness among the employees, etc after the occurrence of four accidents involving cuts and bruises and two near miss incidents. This action is commendable, as normally nobody stops the work even after the occurrence of major accidents and try to bargain with regulators to start the work at the earliest. Such actions will resulting in increased confidence among the employees and help in achieving a better work place.


Chemical agent plant construction paused to improve safety » Local News » The Richmond Register

LINK

Thai PM orders assessment of all factories every 3 months

To assess the risk of chemicals used in the factories, quarterly assessment by factory visits was order by Thai PM. Though, this may happen in the beginning, it is difficult to sustain in the long run unless otherwise, sufficient number of factory inspectors with authority are available. Governments should also consider safety promotion by penalizing/rewarding the factories. If a factory's safety performance is consistently good over a period of time, say five years without any accident, tax benefits or discounts in insurance premiums  may be provided. Similarly,  if safety performance is not good, they should be taxed more or insurance premium should be enhanced. This may lead to hiding the accident data. Therefore, all accidents should be registered by factories in a government website and be publicly available. If there is any non-reporting, it can be brought to the notice of the government and they should be rewarded sufficiently and their identity be protected governments can announce rewards to factory workers to bring to their notice, by giving cash rewards. Further, the identity of these persons should be protected.
PM orders assessment of all factories every 3 months

LINK

Unemployment leads to drop in injuries?

As per a study in UK, there were 1.5 million workplace accidents and injuries ranging from paper cut to serious chemical burns. Over last 10 years when unemployment rose by 65%, for 100,000 workers, fatalities dropped from 0.9 to 0.5, major accidents by 11% (to 99 in 2011), 3-day absence injuries by 48% (to 363). The reasons cited are, reduction in man power needs due to technological improvements thus reducing man-machine contact, realization by companies that safety investment pays in the long term by reduction in claims, non-reporting, etc.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/4/prweb9347738.htm

Five workers die as wall collapses

During digging for a cellar under a building, five workers were buried alive due to caving in of adjacent excavated earth of 15 feet high and also collapse of side wall. 

I am unable to provide the link for the picture which I saw in the news paper (Times of India) in local edition that appeared on 13.04.2012 which opens the eyes of careless site engineers who do not bother to keep the excavated soil away from the trenches. As per good safety practices, the excavated soil should be kept atleast 1.5 m or 50% of the depth of the trench whichever is higher. Further, the angle of repose of the soil also should be taken in to account depending upon the nature of the soil/earth excavated. Generally, 15 degree (with horizontal) is the safe angle.
And, shoring as required also needs to be ensured so that there will not be any collapse.  In another incident reported few years ago, two persons working at a depth of about 3-5 feet were buried from the earth adjacent due to disturbance/vibrations caused. 

When people are covered even partially under the soil, it is difficult for them to come out of it and suffer due to the impact and pressure of the soil on their body leading to death. 

http://www.indiablooms.com/NewsDetailsPage/2012/newsDetails130412k.php

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Five-workers-die-as-wall-collapses/articleshow/12645263.cms

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/article3310070.ece

Participative approach by workers: A Case of Two Chemical Accidents

The following link is about two facilities involved in same job but is about how participation by workers can make wonders for their own safety and of others and its contribution to the organization. Participative approach is an age old philosophy but is hardly practiced. But, when followed, it ensures a safe work place for all.
The Union Difference: A Case of Two Chemical Accidents

LINK

chemical accidents – Center for Health, Environment & Justice

As per an article appeared in the web, there are 483 chemical plants in US that can endanger more than 100,000 lives each. And there are many more chemical plants that use dangerous chemicals that can impact the lives of many in the vicinity of the plant. A statement is made that many of these are located in areas where low income and other groups do live. However, I think this statement may not be true. Generally, when any plant is located, it will be ensured that there is no habitation around, unless otherwise these plants are very old, say 50-60 years before. People try to live near the factories in which they are working for ease of mobility and access and thus over a period of time, factories will be surrounded by thick population who are not working in these plants. Initially, even factory managements encourage such growth as they get cheap man power quickly. But, once accidents start happening, same population and their bosses (read political leaders), environmentalists, etc will demand for shifting of the production facilities to remote places. Even if these are shifted, there is no guarantee that they will remain isolated forever. The story repeats.
There is also a statement in the report that some plants substituted poisonous chemicals with less harm or harmless chemicals. Elimination/substitution/operating at near atmospheric conditions/etc are most desirable methods to eliminate hazards and those plants which reduce dangers by any of the methods should be encouraged by way of tax relief for sometime so that others too get motivated.




chemical accidents – Center for Health, Environment & Justice

LINK

North Sea gas leak on March 25, 2012 at 4000 m below the surface

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21637-no-toxic-hydrogen-sulphide-in-north-sea-gas-leak.html
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21631-north-sea-gas-leak-venting-from-newly-disturbed-source.html
http://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/scottish-headlines/north-sea-gas-leak-source-located-1-2199804#


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2121457/North-Sea-gas-leak-threatens-repeat-Piper-Alpha-oil-rig-disaster-Aberdeen.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Change of guard - impact on safety policies

Changes are imminent - whether it is the top man or at different levels. Every time, organizational change occurs particulary at top level, it is certain that the new management will review policies in all respects. People want to leave their imprint by thinking differently and this is one of the reason for shuffling of positions in any organization.
Depending upon the knowledge, experience, interests and targets of the person taking charge,  and also the advise provided by down under, unless otherwise it is one-man army as in small organizations, the policy shift can be either good or bad to the organization (and to the subordinates?). It may take sometime to see the results of these changes.
As per rules, whenever the occupier or safety in-charge changes, this information needs to be informed to regulators immediately. And, it is better if regulators keep a watch on the affairs of such organization(s) for a reasonable period, to ensure that the safety issues continue to get top priority inspite of the changes in the organization.

A capsule for removing radioactive contamination from milk, fruit juices, other beverages

A capsule for removing radioactive contamination from milk, fruit juices, other beverages

LINK

Who is responsible for delay in work? Regulators or managements?

Many times regulatory process is shown as a reason for delay in work progress or failure to achieve production targets or failure to start or complete projects in times or ending up in losses. However, they do not explain or do not want to see why proper planning and execution is not done to comply with applicable procedures and statutes. When procedures are not followed and if and when the regulatory body finds violations or finds new information, they are bound to issue notices. Had the entity disclosed the information fully about its intentions initially itself or complied with conditions subsequently, there would not have been any tussle or heart burn.
Companies blame that the information which is not asked earlier is being asked later and their works are being suspended or such new information is shown as a cause for stopping the work. As long as any activity got potential to cause harm to people and environment, it has to be addressed, even if not during application process.These systems are evolved over a period of time based on past experience and considerable forethought and can't be questioned for one's problems.
Economic growth or profits of the companies alone can't be a reason for bypassing/violation the regulatory process. Safety of the persons and environment should get top priority over other issues and nobody got any right in this regard.

Safety Daily Advisor : Facts About Shiftwork Health Problems

Safety Daily Advisor : Facts About Shiftwork Health Problems

Shift work introduces changes in our daily routine and this requires adjustment and tuning of our body to new pattern. How fast this occurs varies from individual to individual. There are many who continue to work in shifts for years. Even in some of those people, there are problems of adjustment and complaints about health. Apart from loosing their family life which they could have when they come in general shifts, they are also prone to accidents for a variety of reasons like health, lack of proper supervision in shifts, psychological, etc. However, one of my senior colleague told me that he could use day time to undergo many courses and acquire higher qualification which he could not have got, if he attended work in general shift. But, such people are less and generally one will be taking more time for rest when working in night shifts. Persons especially in night shifts are prone to accidents. Further, in some industries, as reported in news papers, workers are engaged to letout untreated effluents in public drains during night times when vigil is almost nil. This may induce them to develop unlawful attitude and indirectly affects their own lives also.

Who bears the most of the cost of a workplace accident? Employer ! Community!! Workers!!!

In a blog (safetyatworkblog.com), it is reported that 95% of the cost of a workplace accident is borne by the workers and community, whereas the employers incurs the balance. If this is true, then, employers are making profit at the cost of the society even during accidents. Though, it is not clear, how this data is arrived at, however, it is true that a business minded person passes on all his costs to his customers and he may add a percentage of the total costs (including those incurred due to incidents/accidents) as his profit. Can we draw from this, by stating that the higher the input costs, higher the profit. May be the breakeven period will be more, but afterwards, profits will be more. I am not an economist, but with my thought process, I am putting this analysis.

Rare surgery, thumb reconstructed from toe

In a rare surgery, a carpenter is able to write, hold and eat after his right hand thumb was reconstructed from one of his foot toes. The carpenter lost is thumb while working and six weeks after the surgery at Yashoda Hospital, Secunderabad, he could do most of the jobs. It is reported that such surgery was done 20 years before at NIMS (Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderbad, India), but public awareness about such rare surgeries is almost negligible.

Dangerous lift, boy looses life

A boy died in the lift of an apartment under construction while playing inside the lift. The lift moved with boy's leg between the lift door and the wall. The lift stopped after moving some distance by which boy died. A case was registered on lift maintenance agency under IPC for rash/negligent act.
It is not clear from the reports,  how the lift is allowed for use without interlock between lift movement and door position. It is not clear from the news, whether the door is foldable grill type and the boy while playing put his leg through openings of the grill and somebody in someother floor pressed the button causing the lift to move.

Confined Space Entry ,BP Guidelines

Confined space jobs are very dangerous as one has to work in unknown atmospheres. Here is a link to BP Guidelines on confined space entry, found at Petroleum Community forum.

Confined Space Entry ,BP Guidelines

LINK

List of issues to be looked for during safety inspection

Link for a post on the above topic appeared in the internet is given below.

http://www.chemicalplantsafety.net/safety-inspection/a-must-have-list-of-safety-inspection-checklist/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ChemicalPlantSafety+%28Chemical+Plant+Safety+Resources%29

Mine accidents - a way to reach the trapped workers

This post is about a rescue operation of trapped miners about 45 years ago, narrated to me by a known person. He was working as a doctor in those mines. Some mine workers were trapped during drilling and authorities could not find it easy to rescue them. Then, based on the advise of an employee, they contacted local thieves, who used to steal valuables from the mines. One of them, confessed about a secret way to reach the location of mine collapse, by which all trapped miners were rescued within a day of the incident.

It is funny, but is a valuable lesson.

Charge the vehicle owners for parking on the roads

At many places, people park their vehicles in front of their houses on the roads, leading to narrowing of roads and accidents. It is mandatory to leave sufficient space (about 10 ft or more depending upon the plot area) in front of the house upto their compound wall. But, hardly this norm is followed. Overcome by greed, people leave little space and construct the houses upto their boundary, and may be sometimes encroaching their neighbour's area or public road. Naturally, this leads to no parking space and occupants park their vehicles on the roads. All such vehicles should be taken over by local authorities and charge heavy penalties. If there is no response within specified period (say two weeks), the vehicle should be put up for auction. There are thousands of vehicles of all categories that are parked on the roads and I feel this brings sufficient income for the local authorities and also bring discipline among the greedy.

Polluter pays - recovery of cleaning costs from company

In an incident involving overturning of tractor trailer leading to chemical spillage (50 gallons of tetra chloro ethylene) on the road, it is stated that the cost of cleaning, overtime charges of police personnel, cleaning personnel, emergency center setup expenses will be charged to the trucking firm. During clean up operations, the road traffic was stopped. Quantification of the loss incurred by those on the roads shutdown will be much higher than the bill that will be served to the trucking firm. However, billing is a good idea as many have scant respect for the national wealth spoiled by their acts.

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Did-you-cause-the-wreck-that-shut-down-I-10-for-3388775.php

Standing under the coconut tree - a nearmiss incident

Yesterday, I went to my friend's house and while leaving he came out upto the gate to see me off. While talking at the gate, all of sudden there was cracking sound and a dry big leaf (about 4 m long) of the coconut tree that is adjacent to the gate fell down, almost touching the backside of my friend. The tree is about 12-15 m high. When we saw up, one more such leaf is loosely hanging dangerously at the top and may fall any time due to heavy wind.
In the city where we do not see coconut trees due to apartment culture with no room left for trees, I forgot the dangers of standing under the tree, though we have a coconut tree at our house in the native place. My mother says, scorpions and even snakes are likely to be encountered when a person goes up to cut the coconuts from the tree or for removing the dried leaves. Same is the case with various types of palm trees. But their leaves are not as heavy as coconut leaves.
The incident is a near miss and a few millimeters made the difference to avoid getting hit by the coconut leaf.

Holi (colours) festival - painful incidents

Every year Holiday will be celebrated in the country, by sprinkling colours on near and dear. Children and elders like the festival alike and play cheerfully, distributing sweets. People other than children also drink bhang and dance. At the end, they take bath to wash coloursAnd every year, there will be news of,

• persons admitted to hospitals because of effect of use of harmful colours, causing irritation, temporary/permanent damage to eyes, skin, etc
• persons vomitting because of excessive consumption or poor quality of bhang
• persons getting drowned in ponds and lakes as they do not swimming
• eruption of fights between groups of people because of indescent behavior

Like Diwali, this festival also some people suffer because of improper use of colours and others. Elders in the family should teach safety precautions and keep an eye so that Holi festival can be celebrated without pain.

Auto rikshaws - dangers due to narrow front

Sometimes, the drivers of autorikshaws on the roads take sudden unexpected turns on either directions leading to accidents. Any vehicle coming behind or along the auto-rikshaw will get involved in collision either from behind or on the sides resulting in verbal dual and traffic jams. For two wheeler drivers driving along, such turns lead to imbalance and falling on the road and getting over run by vehicles coming in opposite direction.

I feel there is a basic deign problem with auto-rikshaw. The driver takes turn as he wishes because he view is restricted both vertically and horizontally and being a narrow cabin in the front side, his perception of vehicle width is that of his cabin width and not that of passenger seat portion. If the autos are uniformly wide where the width of both driver seating area and passenger seat area are same, this perception problem will not exist. And there should two wheels in front also instead of single wheel and along with a steering instead of a handle to control directional movement will ensure safe driving.

Emergency exits - how they should be?

Recently, I attended a seminar and found the two doors marked as EXIT inside in the conference room, are leading to the same corridor. The conference room is located somewhat deep inside the building. I thought it is dangerous as any fire in the corridor will trap the seminar room occupants. Then during lunch time, I went behind the screens used for display of presentations and found two doors leading to outside of the building. Though, these doors are not marked as EXIT, still they serve the purpose. However, as they are not visible and there are no directional marks, people may or may not use them in an emergency.

Some of the guiding principles for emergency exits are,

1. doors should open outward
2. there should be one emergency exit for every 75 ft distance
3. emergency lighting along the corridor to maintain minimum illumination in case of failure of regular power supply
4. self glowing display signs (EXIT, arrow marking, etc)
5. availability of keys near the doors marked emergency exit, with hammer to break the box containing keys
6. not blocking the emergency exits
7. not having stairs in front of emergency exit doors

At some places, it looks funny to see signs of EXIT and directional arrows exactly on the doors instead of direction marks along the wall from inner rooms to outdoors. 

Only married men employed in a factory

In a Chinese factory that is engaged in manufacturing pesticides like guanidine nitrate, it is reported that only married men are employed. An explosion in the factory at about 0930 hr on 28th Feb 2012 led to 13 deaths and scores of injuries. The blast led to collapse of a workshop and breakage of window panes in 2 km radius. Tremors were felt by three villages nearby.
I am unable to guess the reason for only married male employees in the factory.

Huge propane storage tank in US to meet 6 month needs

A colorado based company proposes to have a 22.7 million gallon propane insulated tank. In the report, it is stated that locals will vote about the work on the project and describes about the facility, possible effects and measures. The report has some questions and some answers. It is an interesting article. I calculated fireball radius and its duration using the equations mentioned in "Major Hazard Control: A Practical Manual" published by ILO. The fireball radius is 803 m and its duration is 124 seconds. The impact distances for thermal radiation resulting from BLEVE/VCE extend much longer. It reminds me about the incident at New Mexico in the year 1984.
The owners must have taken suitable measures as per applicable NFPA and other regulations. Risk assessment of the proposed facility with its safety features, considering the presence of other manufacturing facilities and their impact will result in a meaningful conclusion.

Responsibility for failure to use PPE

In an article, the court dismissed the claim for the death of an employee as it is found that the employer did everything it can do to impart knowledge, train, issue PPE, conduct weekly meetings and toolbox meetings and so on.
Still, I feel effective supervision and not engaging the person when the employee refuses to wear PPE could have prevented such incident. Otherwise, why to engage supervisors. Apart from supervisors for safe production activities, site specific monitoring of safety supervision by designated persons will ensure accident prevention.

Road safety - Heavy penalties for traffic offences

As per a report in the year 2010, 1.3 lakh persons died due to road accidents. A study reveals road accidents cost the nation about Rs 1,00,000 crore.  There will be many road accidents which go unreported and authorities come to know of the accidents only when persons are seriously injured and require medical help.
Government proposes to penalize heavily those caught on the road with drunken driving/mobile use during driving/over speeding/jumping the signal/driving without helmet or seatbelt/using vehicle without registration. The government proposes penalties for first offence ranging from Rs 500 to 10,000 and for subsequent offences upto Rs 20,000. Dangerous driving and mobile use invite jail term also upto 2 years.
On this aspect, in earlier post way back in the year 2008-9, I felt the same.

Apart from penalising those with dangerous/unsafe driving, pedestrians crossing the roads without waiting for easing of road traffic, roadside business persons encroaching the roads, persons parking vehicles on the road also should be penalised heavily as they are also responsible for a number of road accidents and deaths.
And those caught with traffic offences should be forced to work on social service activities like cleaning the roads, schools, performing traffic control duties, etc.

Many times, to save the persons on the roads, vehicle drivers move away  and this during speed causes skidding/loosing control/hitting the road divider or street pole, etc leading to fall of the driver, toppling of the vehicle, hitting some other person/vehicle, etc and injury/death.

Government proposes to use 50% of the fines collected to use for road safety fund. Apart from this, I wish government gives 25% of the fines collected as incentive to the traffic police. In my earlier posts on the same topic, I opined to give some basic salary to the traffic police and allow them to take penalty amount as their income. This will also reduce burden on the government to maintain huge staff and encourage to recruit more and more traffic police all over the country by respective authorities. I also suggested in earlier posts to takeover properties of offending drivers/vehicle owners to teach lessons for life. In a situations where words are not enough, only actions / measures like above will control road accidents and save lakhs of lives.

Fire from weld sparks causes 6 injuries, Rs 10 crore property damage

In a fire due to weld sparks on top floor of a shrimp feed factory falling on the plastic bags kept below causes injuries to six employees and property damage worth Rs 10 crore. Three workers fainted due to smoke from the fire and another three were injured due to fall while climbing down. It is reported that fire extinguishers in the factory did not function at the time of the incident, indicating poor upkeep of safety systems.
Any hazardous work in a factory requires following safety permit systems which helps in hazard assessment and taking suitable safety measures for the work. Weld sparks can fly off about 15 m distance and hence the area within this should be free from combustibles. It is better to spray water in this area before hot work. If it is not possible to remove combustibles within this area, they should be covered with fire resistant cloth.
In this incident, sparks fell on the combustible material in the floor below. As the extent of damage is huge and fire extinguishing took about 5 hours, it indicates lack of supervision.
There should be a program to check fire extinguishers at regular intervals, say, once in a quarter. In extinguishers containing CO2 cartridge, the quality of these should be checked as it is likely that any defect renders fire extinguisher useless.
Regular training of all employees or identified employees and ensuring their availability atleast in minimum number in every shift also must be ensured.

Bath tub paint stripper is harmful

Methylene chloride (MC) is used to remove the paint of bath tub for renovation. It is reported that 13 deaths occurred while using this. The main hazards stated are from inhalation and skin exposure and it is a carcinogen.
http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/methylenechloride/

Permissible exposure is 25 ppm (TLV-TWA) for 8 hr and 125 ppm (TLV-STEL) for 15 minute period
It is anaesthetic and inhalation can cause mental confusion, light-headedness, nausea, vomiting, headache. Continued exposure may cause increased light-headedness, staggering, unconsciousness, and even death. High vapor concentrations may also cause irritation of the eyes and respiratory tract. Exposure to MC may make the symptoms of angina (chest pains) worse. Skin exposure to liquid MC may cause irritation. If liquid MC remains on the skin, it may cause skin burns. Splashes of the liquid into the eyes may cause irritation.
Long-term (chronic) exposure: Studies on rats, mice indicate MC causes cancer.
OSHA interprets results to mean that there is suggestive (but not absolute) evidence that MC is a human carcinogen.
Generally bathrooms are small and the ventilation in it will be poor. While cleaning, it is likely that the doors also will be closed and persons working inside will be exposed to vapors.
One has to wear suitable respiratory protection and skin protection and someone must keep watch on the person doing the cleaning job.

Many chemicals used for cleaning jobs at home cause skin burns or atleast itching and not much awareness is seen in this aspect. I saw some books for home safety. But, every chemical can/container for home use shall have hazards and safety precautions printed in readable font size so that users can take care of themselves.

Plan in advance to fill vacant posts

In any organization, manpower attrition is a continuous phenomenon. People retire and new persons fill in those posts. However, there will be a gap when we do not get persons as skilled as those who retired or moved out. It may be difficult to find who will be resigning, as generally, we do not get information in advance. However, we know who is going to retire as per the organization's service norms. If we fill the posts after the retirement, then there will be skill gap and plant operations will be at risk. 

To avoid such issues and also to take care of attrition due to resignations/deaths, it is better to have a reserve strength (like bench in software companies) to make use of these persons any time as the need arises. 

Therefore, it is always preferable to have posts, say 5 % of total organizations strength, particularly in technical field as reserve/bench. The cost of maintaining this reserve strength with needed skills though, may appear costly / avoidable to the finance managers, will prove to be advantageous when we are in neck deep trouble because of lost productivity, or regulatory issues arising from incidents resulting due to poor skills of freshly recruited persons employed in place of experience hands, etc.

Afterall, one can't compromise with safety.

Prison fire in Honduras

A prison fire in Honduras caused more than 300 deaths. Reports say that fire was initiated on Tuesday night by an inmate by burning the mattress. The jail is overcrowded at the time of the incident. Some died in the cells due to burns and or suffocation before they could be freed. More than 475 escaped. Delayed justice is shown as the reason for overcrowding of prisons in the country. It is stated that some inmates escaped by pushing roof panels.
Though the fire started by burning mattress, it is not clear how it could have spread without presence of combustibles in the entire prison in continuity. Else, fire could have been limited to the cell in which it was initiated. This shows lack of monitoring by jail staff or there could have been some help within. It is also not clear whether any fire detection and sprinkler system is available in all cells which is required as per NFPA for residential and commercial buildings.

Office safety

An article in smartplanet.com states that those working for long hours in offices are likely to have increased levels of polyfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in their blood. Though the sample size of 31 is small, if we look at it in a spirited manner, the study says that those in new buildings wherein use of furniture with PFC is more, have more PFC in their blood stream compared to others.
Hence, if the sample is size is more, the percentage of persons exposed to PFC may be high or low. Whatever the statistics say, even if a fraction is exposed and risks the health of the persons, then measures have to be taken to protect these people.
Apart from this, it is well known that carpets are a major source for germs that affect the health of the persons. Further, in closed buildings, where air is recirculated will also have an effect on the health of the persons. When we enter conference rooms that are not in regular use and where ventilation is switched only before use, we get foul smell. Added to these, the new finding of PFCs will add to workers woes in offices.

Product safety - recall of coffee makers

http://www.claimsjournal.com/news/national/2012/02/10/200823.htm

A coffee maker agency is recalling its equipment as there were reported incidents of splashing of coffee during brewing causing burns. I think, research departments of manufacturers should test thoroughly their products before releasing into the markets to adhere to the deadlines. Heavens will not fall if deadlines are skipped for genuine reasons. However, the initiative of recall is good on the part of the agency.

Some maths on environment damage costs in China

http://www.claimsjournal.com/news/international/2012/02/08/200548.htm

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/business/2012-02/07/content_14550738.htm

As per reports, in the year 2011, there were 542 environment related accidents out of which 60% are from road and process related accidents. It is estimated that the loss due to these accidents resulting in environment damage is about US$ 220 billion and this cost does not take into account of impact on public health and loss of productivity from farm land contamination. The number of accidents causing damage to environment is on rise.

I am not an economist and can't think much. But, it appears that countries while setting ambitious export targets are overusing the available limited natural resources and giving less importance to safety of employees and environment protection. When everybody tries to flood markets with their products, costs will come down, but this will also lead to wasting of resources and loading the environment. 

One of the units to measure development in an area is that of per capita energy consumption. This unit neither takes into account of effective use of energy not actual need for the energy consumed. 

Instead of craving for tags/labels of development, one should use available resources judiciously to provide necessary comfort for all.

Tech strives to raise awareness, minimize risks after series of laboratory explosions | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Tech strives to raise awareness, minimize risks after series of laboratory explosions | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
http://www.diamondbackonline.com/news/chem-labs-now-stricter-to-prevent-accidents-1.2761539#.TzaJS8Xro2c

After three incidents in the university laboratory, several measures like forming a lab safety committee, regular meetings, forming guidelines to handle the chemicals safely, safety inspections, identification of hazards, identification incompatible chemicals and disposal, labeling of chemicals, location of chemicals at proper places, color coding, disposal of unused chemicals lying for a long time, enforcing use of full hand lab coat instead of apron while working in lab, having full shoe, emergency plan, linking safety awareness to career progress, etc were taken to avoid future accidents.
LINK

Lab safety: Stringent safety measures in place to avoid life-threatening accidents

ISAT: Stringent safety measures in place to avoid life-threatening accidents - The Breeze: News

The above is an article about lab safety. Many do not think of following safety rules while working or doing experiments in a laboratory. But, we have to understand that those working in the laboratory do not have any practical knowledge and are unable to assess the magnitude of the danger which they will be exposed to. Many universities developed lab safety procedures. But many more do not consider safety in lab as an essential practice.

Job-related injuries and illnesses estimated to cost nation $250 billion per year

Job-related injuries and illnesses estimated to cost nation $250 billion per year

The cost is several times more than that of cancer, diabetes, strokes.

Sizing up a world of 7 billion people

Offbeat math: Sizing up a world of 7 billion people - Technology & Science - CBC News

LINK