Oil and Gas Industry Safety & Health - Articles - Page 17

Atlas Oil receives health & safety excellence award for second straight year

October 4, 2019

Atlas Oil was named the Excellence in Health and Safety award winner at the 2019 Texas Oil and Gas Awards, marking the company's second consecutive win in this prestigious category – last year in the Rocky Mountain region.

New oilfield safety product to undergo field trials

October 4, 2019

Safe Influx is a ground-breaking new technology to help avoid well blowouts by automating well control operations and removing the human risk factor associated with well control. Invented last year by Phil Hassard, head of drilling simulation at Robert Gordon University, the technology is about to get its first outing in the field at the Weatherford Land Rig at Bridge of Don Aberdeen following overwhelmingly successful tests on a DrillSIM:6000 drilling simulator, manufactured by Drilling Systems, which is part of the 3T Energy Group.

If left unmaintained, combustion systems can be catastrophic

Hidden in plain sight…

October 1, 2019

Boilers, dryers, process ovens, thermal oxidizers or other fuel-fired industrial equipment are essential to manufacturing productivity. Regulating the flow and pressure of fuel delivery to this equipment requires a multi-component, highly-engineered device called a “valve safety train”.

Here’s what caused a neighborhood to blow up

September 26, 2019

The National Transportation Safety Board has determined that Columbia Gas of Massachusetts’ deficiencies in management and oversight led to overpressurization of a natural gas distribution system which resulted in a series of fires and explosions in Merrimack Valley, Massachusetts.

CSB reverses policy, will name names of chemical accident victim

Had stopped so companies wouldn't have implied culpability

September 18, 2019

Under pressure from worker safety advocates, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has decided to return to a policy of including the names of deceased workers in its investigative reports. The CSB, an independent federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical incidents, has included names of fatally injured workers in its reports since 2014. The agency changed its policy in June with the release of two reports on fatal incidents.

Lab employee with cancer sues over hazmat exposure

September 13, 2019

A former employee of a subcontractor at Brookhaven National Laboratory has filed a $25 million lawsuit against the lab manager and the manufacturers of a cleaning solvent he claims caused his cancer. Joseph Marino, who worked as a computer technician at the Upton, New York lab in 1999 and 2000, has been diagnosed with clear cell renal carcinoma.

Pipelines in U.S. just got safer

September 12, 2019

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) just got to check off three more items on its 2019-2020 Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements. The latest three, intended to improve pipeline safety, call for improved inspection programs, better records and documentation of natural gas systems, and procedures to mitigate risks identified during management of change operations.

OSHA spells out FR protection specifics

Do your workers understand the hazards?

Maureen Paraventi

September 12, 2019

Although many employees typically provide some or all of their own work attire, it is the employer who will be issued a citation if a worker who is exposed to electric arc or flame hazards is not wearing flame-resistant (FR) clothing.

CSB: Workers can help prevent catastrophic chemical incidents

Agency releases new safety digest on employee participation

September 9, 2019

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has issued a new safety digest on the value of worker participation to prevent chemical incidents. The digest notes that lack of worker participation was a factor in several major incidents investigated by the CSB because workers and their representatives were not engaged to help identify hazards and reduce risks.

Climbing-style helmets offer a wider field of vision

Going brimless

Dennis Capizzi

September 9, 2019

Wearing a hard hat is essential for protecting your most valuable tool: your brain. The effects of Traumatic Brain Injury or TBI can be devastating, not just for the injured, but for their families as well.