#185 - Revised perspective on Safety training

We recently labored through some rather boring safety training videos to satisfy some mandatory H&S training requirements that we have in our facility. The videos had questionable relevance to office staff, but we paid attention to our lessons and scored good marks on the multiple choice tests that followed. (Our production staff also scored well. More importantly, they have a good record of implementing good safety practices in the shop.)

A couple days later, I noticed an article on the Chem.info website that demonstrated the value of some of the training we received. Apparently, a chemical cleaning powder was mistaken for an edible cheese product in a restaurant and used in the preparation of someone’s meal. The hapless diner fell ill immediately after eating and had to be rushed to a hospital emergency room.

The powdered chemical had been removed from its original container and placed in another container that was not properly labeled. Thankfully the diner quickly recovered. However, incidents like this show that proper labeling of decanted chemicals is important. 

In a recent audit, our company was awarded a high score for safety among the Tenova companies. Perhaps we should open a restaurant. We can build analyzers safely. How hard can cooking be?

#182 - Oil & Gas Spills Increase in 2013

In reading various industry magazines and blogs, one can’t help noticing the frequency of spill and leak events in the oil industry these days.

Quoted from Processing Magazine:

More than 7,600 oil spills and leaks were recorded in 2013 in the top 15 states for onshore oil and gas activities, according to a new analysis by EnergyWire based on state data. This is a 13-percent increase on the previous year, even though overall drilling activity remained generally flat over that period.

The total number of incidents including spills, blowouts and leaks at drilling sites came in at 7,662, equaling more than 20 per day, EnergyWire said. The majority of these spills were relatively small and were contained quickly, before any serious damage was caused. However, the combined volume of oil, fracking fluid, fracking wastewater and other liquids that were released in them amounted to 26 million gallons. Some of the increase could be put down to new reporting requirements that were introduced in several states last year, but the number of spills went up even if those were not factored in.

In terms of regional distribution, the Bakken Shale recorded some of the most dramatic increases in spills and leak rates. Specifically, Montana saw the sharpest rise in spills (48 percent), followed by North Dakota (42 percent). Anadarko Petroleum Corporation reported 321 incidents in 2013, landing at the top of the chart, leaving ConocoPhillips and Occidental Petroleum far behind with 256 and 240 spills, respectively, the data shows.

More than a million gallons of diluted bitumen leaked into Michigan's Kalamazoo River in July 2010. These types of onshore spills appear to have increased in 2013.

It should be noted that this data based only on the top 15 states in just the USA. The world-wide figures are undoubtedly much higher. The rush to extract fossil fuels from the earth is evidently not without its challenges. The familiar expression “haste makes waste’ seems to be appropriate, especially in regions that have had a recent surge in oil and natural gas extraction.

Looking elsewhere - Lawrenceville Plasma Physics in Middlesex, New Jersey have been working on controlled nuclear fusion using dense plasma focusing. If this project succeeds, perhaps it will reduce the world’s unhealthy reliance on burning fossil fuels to obtain energy.

They have a crowd-funding initiative to help stimulate awareness and raise money. The folks at Next Big Future reported on it here.

Oil spill photograph courtesy Michigan Department of Environmental Quality from article at National Geographic -  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/09/110919-keystone-xl-tar-sands-pipeline-groundwater/

Fusion Energy Flow Chart from Next Big Future link shown above

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