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A listing in reverse chronological order of articles by:
LNG spilled onto water sometime undergoes a rapid phase transition (RPT) or physical explosion creating localized overpressures.
Such physical explosions are also observed when water contacts molten metal or hot lava (steam explosions)
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This article is the first in our risk management series. The series will be taking a look at the risk management guidelines under the ISO 31000 Standard to help you better understand them and how they relate to your own risk management activities. In doing so we’ll be walking through the core aspects of the Standard and giving you practical guidance on how to implement it.
In this particular article, we’ll be introducing you to the ISO 31000 Standards, the guiding principles, and outlining the risk management framework.
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When you are driving on a highway, usually there is a speed limit. If you exceed this limit, a cop can give you a ticket.
In Houston, most highways have a speed limit of 65-70 miles per hour…although most drivers appear to assume it implies “90-mph is okay”.
Let us say the city of Houston were to remove the speed restrictions.
Instead they put forward the mandate “drive safely”.
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So long as there are products and services offered by an organization, there will be the existence of a sales force.
The basic fundamentals of selling are simple: a customer expresses a desire for something and, in turn, someone sells them a product or service to address that desire. Essentially, sales are how an organization converts a “want” into a “need.” While these fundamentals are timeless, they are rooted in a reactive process.
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Generally speaking, 5-6 things have to go wrong for an incident to occur. Furthermore, these events or failures have to occur in a certain sequence.
The characteristics of mega disasters is that 5-6 events with fairly low probabilities of occurrence line up.
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Some common reasons why requirements can cause risk to a project are:
This paper explains how poorly defined requirements can impact the project.
About a year ago, the Minerals Management Services (MMS) proposed a new rule that would require operators of oil and gas operations in the US Outer Continental Shelf to develop and implement Safety and Environmental Management System (SEMS).
It is expected that the rule will be promulgated sometime this year (2010).
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On September 15, 2021, ASQ announced the formation of the Center for Electoral Quality and Integrity. This announcement caused a conflicted reaction. On the one hand I liked that the Government Division, which was pushing this action, was showing some level of activity, after almost none for several years. One the other hand, I just laughed at the idea that ASQ and Government Division was going to, or even be capable of, having an impact on electoral quality or integrity. This is not a case of believing the objective is bad.
It is a case of realizing that this is not the 1990s when quality was a key priority of governments around the world. And that ASQ does not have the same level of influence it had, when in the 1990s it was instrumental in getting Education added to the Baldrige Award.
This piece discusses the white paper on Electoral Quality and Integrity which the Center seeks to implement. It also discusses the forces likely to prevent ASQ from being successful.
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I noticed that API-14C recommends monitoring of 2-ppm (and higher) SO2 levels. I felt this was a really low threshold value for SO2 .
What surprised me further is that the Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health (IDLH) value for SO2 is 100-ppm…same as H2S!
[Read more…]This story is an example of centering your design around a high-tech solution to a problem when a low risk proven technology would have more than sufficed. Technical expertise egos got in the way of a practical low-cost approach resulting in unplanned schedule and cost growth.
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| Oxygen Concentration (% Volume) | Symptoms of acute exposure |
|---|---|
| 15-19 | May impair coordination. Decreased ability to perform tasks |
| 12-15 | Impaired coordination, perception, and judgment |
| 10-12 | Increased breathing rate, poor coordination and judgment, lips slightly blue |
| 8-10 | Mental failure, fainting, unconsciousness, ashen face, blueness of lips, nausea, upset stomach and vomiting |
| 6-8 | 8 minute exposure: may be fatal in 50-100%; 6 minute exposure: may be fatal in 25-50%; 4-5 minutes exposure: Recovery with treatment |
| 4-6 | Coma in 40-seconds, followed by convulsions, breathing failure, death |
Source: Compressed Natural Gas Safety Bulletin, SB-2, 1992.
Guest Post by Howard M. Wiener (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)
I am pretty close to completing my first book – Agile Enterprise Risk Management, Risk-Based Thinking, Multi-Disciplinary Management and Digital Transformation. It is now at the publishers, awaiting finalization. I have established a site for the book and this is the home page text that describes what AERM is all about.
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We all know that air is mostly nitrogen…79% to be precise. What may not be a common knoweldge is that colorless odorless Nitrogen has led to asphyxiation and fatalities and is a risk particularly for personnel working in confined spaces and personnel utilizing breathing air systems.
According to the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) research there were 80 nitrogen asphyxiation fatalities between 1992-2002. This translates to one nitrogen asphyxiation death every seven weeks. Approximately, 10% of fatalities were due to attempts to rescue person in confined spaces.
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Teams, they are everywhere; sports teams, project teams, political parties, rock bands, military units, the list goes on. The team isn’t just about the people in the limelight it’s also about the backroom boys and girls who provide logistical, technical, administrative, and sometime moral support to the front men and women. Even the lone competitor or the one-man-band needs some support; everybody needs somebody sometime.
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