10/24/2016 It is hard to believe that one of the world’s worst industrial disasters happened over thirty years ago. It was on December 3, 1984 in Bhopal, India: a city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Because this incident occurred in 1984, it is very likely that a Read more…
10/3/2016 Even to this day, after numerous unfortunate incidents, stories persist where a person would arbitrarily grab a fire extinguisher (F/E) without understanding its specific purpose, limitation or proper use, and try to extinguish a fire only to succumb to the heat, flames and poisonous gases. The problem is that Read more…
4/24/2017 It happened in December, 2008, at an organic chemistry lab at UCLA. That was when a research assistant was working at a laboratory hood, using a syringe to transfer about 50 mL of tert-butyl lithium, a pyrophoric chemical (a substance that catches fire spontaneously once exposed to air), dissolved Read more…
12/12/2016 Acids: these are a group of chemicals known for their caustic nature. Most acids encountered in everyday life are aqueous solutions, or can be dissolved in water. Acid comes directly from the Latin acidus, which means sour. Probably the most obvious example of understanding this “sour” characteristic is through Read more…
10/17/2016 Ethyl and Skyler walked out of their meeting with the Site Supervisor, Walt. Walt was discussing an injury sustained by one of their site workers, Jesse. As it happened, Jesse, quite innocently, tweaked his back while walking down some steps from the break trailer. Ethyl, the Site Safety and Read more…
1/30/2017 It was back in December 14, 1984, at the then new Limerick nuclear power plant in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where, as the story goes, a construction engineer was on his way to work and set off the facility’s radiation monitoring alarms. Because the plant was still under construction (the Read more…
1/23/2017 Something very subtle appears to be taking place in the United States. That is, our workforce is aging. This “maturing” just didn’t happen overnight. Rather, through a number of paradigm shifts involving the US economy, we have seen the median age of the American worker rise. The U.S. Bureau Read more…
3/6/2017 It is quite common that various types of hearing loss and hearing impediments are discussed during Hearing Conservation Program training. One of the topics brought up, but all-to-often only skimmed over, is tinnitus. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates that nearly 15% of the general public; that’s over Read more…
1/9/2017 On December 2, 2016, at approximately 11:20 p.m. PST a fire broke out in a warehouse in Oakland, California. This warehouse was known as Ghost Ship and functioned as an artist collective, called Satya Yuga. Even though the facility was designed and originally operated as a warehouse, it was converted Read more…
2/13/2017 Whether at work or just hiking on our own time, many of us find ourselves in remote locations exploring paths and unique terrain. Without a doubt, we have heard about the importance of carrying first aid supplies in our vehicles as well as during hiking expeditions. And when we Read more…