413 private links
Re: Hard Hats and Hi-Viz...
When developing a task risk assessment process for a number of offshore drilling operations (for use by the drill crew) I set a rule a few basic rules:
• There should be no reference to what should be "givens" (e.g. if local rules already stipulate basic PPE requirements, assume it will be worn). That doesn't assume those givens will be realised, but processes for enforcement of those should already be in place. A task risk assessment needs to focus on what is not a given, that is different to the norm or an introduced hazard.
• The written report (usually a standardised format) should not normally exceed one page. If it needs more, the assessment probably needs to be elevated beyond local crew.
• Every non-standard action (i.e. the risk mitigations needed as a result of the assessment) should be itemised on the work permit - and in a box next to where the crew members sign it.
Not perfect, and wasn't liked by some of the company HSE management, but they were overruled whilst I was working there - and we didn't have any significant accidents whilst it was in place. After I left, HSE enforced their system that was probably sponsored by the local stationery supplier!
I wasn't part of the HSE department - I was hired direct by the company drilling management. //
Re: Hard Hats and Hi-Viz...
it generates a culture where people fly back to the shore in the same physical condition that they had when they flew out.
And that, and only that, is and should be the reason for any mandatory PPE and surrounding safety procedures.
One of the biggest issues I have with idiotic H&S rules is that they damage the core idea of care and attention to the health of staff in dangerous environments. They should be sane and safe, and not some power exercise by wannabe mini dictators because it devalues the whole concept.
According to the National Fire Prevention Agency, if an EV ever catches fire while you’re behind the wheel, immediately find a safe way to pull over and get the car away from the main road. Then, turn off the engine and make sure everyone leaves the vehicle immediately. Don’t delay things by grabbing personal belongings, just get out. Remain over 100 feet away from the burning car as you call 911 and request the fire department.
Also, you shouldn’t attempt to put out the flame yourself. This is a chemical fire, so a couple buckets of water won’t sufficiently smother the flames. EV battery fires can take first responders around 10 times more water to extinguish than a fire in a gas-powered vehicle. Sometimes the firefighters may decide to let the battery just burn itself out, rather than dousing it with water.
Once an EV battery catches fire, it’s possible for the chemical fire to reignite after the initial burn dies down. It’s even possible for the battery to go up in flames again days later. “Both firefighters and secondary responders, such as vehicle recovery or tow companies, also need to be aware of the potential for stranded energy that may remain in the undamaged portions of the battery,” says Thomas Barth, an investigator and biomechanics engineer for the NTSB, in an emailed statement. “This energy can pose risks for electric shock or cause the vehicle to reignite.”
MCAS was added on at the end as a high-tech Band-Aid to mitigate an unacceptable issue within the underlying MAX design.
Incompatible requirements had the MAX engineering team figuring out how to retrofit a large, next-generation engine (with fuel efficiency to compete with the Airbus A320neo) onto a legacy 737 airframe from 1968 without room for the new engine in the original mounting location. The team moved the engine mounting location forward and higher to fit the larger engine. The new mounting location was analyzed to cause an undesirable, increased tendency for this aircraft design to pitch upward (which can cause a stall in extreme situations).
Instead of pursuing other structural design options such as redesigning the landing gear, the team turned to the engineering elixir of automation. Sound engineering was outsourced to an autonomous MCAS computer with the authority to push the plane downward as it saw fit — tragically so in the 2018-2019 crashes.
An engineering team would not follow this course of action of its own accord. The legacy airframe was an issue; the new mounting location was an issue; inserting automation into the loop to smooth over these issues is unfathomable. Further investigation through a criminal trial should determine whether a trade study (engineering team’s comparative review of design options — a best practice) was conducted and, if so, who decided the outcome. //
Boeing is guilty of fraudulent behavior. But nothing about MCAS or individual engineer communications is the root cause. The grieving families and the public deserve to know who at Boeing directed the 737 MAX competitive strategy fundamentals and to see that party brought to justice.
A new video has captured the moment the front of a Delta plane burst into flames after landing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport last week.
The Airbus A321neo had just arrived Monday from Cancun, Mexico when the 189 passengers onboard were ordered to evacuate on emergency slides due to a fire in the plane’s nose area, according to KOMO News.
Studies comparing modern traffic accidents with those of the early 20th century reveal that death from travel is 90 percent less likely today than it was in 1925.
Three people from three generations of the West family, ages 33 to 81, perished.
As has become common over three years, the cause was a battery charging an e-scooter, blocking exits.
So far, 17 of this year’s 93 fire deaths are from such batteries.
Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh calls it “devastating.”
Twenty-seven New Yorkers have died in these fires since 2021, the year after the city legalized e-bikes and similar devices. (No one had ever died in such a fire before.)
We’ve quickly reversed decades of progress. Between 2014 and 2020, the average number of annual civilian fire deaths was 66, including a low of 43 in 2017, the smallest number in a century.
Last year, though, fire deaths, at 102, exceeded 100 for the first time in 19 years, and we’ll likely top 100 deaths this year, too.
This represents a 51% increase, relative to the average before e-bikes became ubiquitous.
As the FDNY notes, e-battery fire deaths exceed electrical fire deaths.