2025 Classes

The greatest and most common hazard resulting from static electricity arises because the small sparks that are simply annoying in our everyday world can easily ignite many flammable vapors that are found in industry. Even sparks that are far too small to be felt by people can readily ignite many of the most common industrial substances, which can lead to fires and explosions causing injury to people, destruction of plant, and loss of business. Plastic containers present unique challenges in flammable service, as most plastics are highly electrically insulating, cannot be grounded, and can easily accumulate electrostatic charges. These electrostatic charges result in elevated risks of electrostatic ignitions where the potential for ignitable mixtures exists, including unique and different exposures on the inside and outside surfaces of plastic containers. This presentation will overview the industrial hazards presented by static discharge, and provide a practical to evaluate these risks, including background principles related to Charge Generation, Charge Accumulation, Discharge Energy Level, and Sensitivity of the Atmosphere to Ignition. The risk evaluation processes contained in NFPA 77 (2024), considered a globally applicable Recognized and Generally Accepted Good Engineering Practice (RAGAGEP) on Electrostatics, and NFPA 30 (2024), a RAGAGEP related to Flammable & Combustible Liquids Safety, will be overviewed.

The presenters will share their experiences and lessons learned while implementing a Process Safety Management program at a new battery manufacturing facility that is currently under construction in Marshall, Michigan, as a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and CATL.

The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is an independent, nonregulatory federal organization in the United States dedicated to investigating serious accidents in the chemical industry. Accidents are investigated by a team of CSB employees and from the evidence collected a list of root and contributing causes are formed. Come to this session and learn about the key learnings from the CSB Investigations.

This presentation is an overview of safety instrumented systems, also called safety interlock, and the principles used in identifying, designing, maintaining, and operating a chemical process with safety interlocks.  The principles can be applied to many types of protective equipment.

Process safety as defined by OSHA’s standard is scoped for large volumes of hazardous material.  But, what if you don’t fall into the scope?  Clearly the hazards do not go away if you only have 9,999 pounds of flammable liquids.  The approach needed is to get a process safety program that works for you, your specific hazards and your risk tolerance.  This session will present an approach to right sizing a process safety management system to provide risk management for smaller scale chemical processes in labs/pilot plants/smaller scale operations.

This session will cover transitioning fixed foam fire extinguishing systems and the complexities associated with the process.

Catastrophic occupational and process safety incidents often arise from a series of subtle, early warning signals that go unnoticed. Highly Reliable Organizations (HROs) excel at preventing these disasters by fostering a culture of Psychological Safety—where individuals feel empowered to speak up, share concerns, and report potential issues without fear of reprisal. This environment of open communication, combined with a focus on Anticipation, Questioning, Execution, Resilience, and Learning, significantly enhances their ability to detect and respond to early warning signs. Recent research has unveiled powerful methods for identifying precursors to Serious Injury and Fatality (SIF) Potential Events, along with diagnostic tools to assess an organization’s High Reliability maturity. These insights empower leaders to develop robust strategies for preventing catastrophic incidents. Join us for an engaging presentation that explores the core principles of High Reliability, their application in safety risk management, and the crucial role of leadership in nurturing an environment where HROs thrive. Learn how to transform your organization’s safety culture and safeguard against unexpected incidents.

This session will include real life examples of how a construction company is enabling technology to enable workers to start working when safe and to fail safely.