Amplify Your Process Safety

This episode is the first of a three part series in which Molly and Magi take a deep dive into different aspects of Process Hazard Analyses (PHAs). In today's episode, they talk PHA causes, including identifying causes of deviation in HAZOP, What-If, and Checklist methodologies, some common pitfalls they've observed regarding causes in PHAs, and what makes a cause not credible. If you have...

In this episode, Rob and Magi cover the recent changes made to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Risk Management Program (RMP) Final Rule. The changes fall into four categories: the prevention program, emergency response, availability of information, and other areas of technical clarification. In this episode, they discuss each change, what each could mean for your facility goi...

In today's episode, Rob is joined by guest Shawn Marsh, Vice President of ESHQ Services North America at Evonik, a specialty chemicals manufacturer based in Germany, with production plants in 27 countries on six continents. Shawn explains how Evonik manages process safety and how he fits into that process, key metrics he uses to manage and measure process safety, the challenges of communicatin...

In this episode, Rob sits down with Mat Todaro of Verrill Law, who listeners may remember from his previous guest appearances on the show related to EPA's Risk Management Program and General Duty Clause. Today Rob and Mat discuss EPA's National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives (NECI) for 2024, including what they are and which initiatives are new, modified, and continued, what is dif...

In this episode Magi and Jo team up to cover a recent CSB final report. In this incident breakdown, they cover the 2022 accidental release of naphtha that resulted in a fire, two worker fatalities, and significant property damage at the BP-Husky refinery in Oregon, Ohio, including what happened leading up to the event, contributing factors, recommendations the CSB made in their final report, and w...

In today's episode, Molly sits down with Stephen J. Wallace, the author of a newly released process safety thriller titled "Hazardous Lies". Although his book is a work of fiction, Stephen discusses how his book relates to real aspects of process safety and how it was informed by his real career experience in the process safety field, how he came up with the idea for the novel, his l...

In this episode, Rob is joined again by guest Mike Washington, who is the Director of Industrial Safety at Arkema Inc., The Americas. Mike recently gave a talk at the AIChE Global Congress on Process Safety in New Orleans in March 2023 titled, “Quantitative Natural Disaster Assessment and Scorecard for Chemical Plants," and today discusses some of what he covered in that talk. Rob and Mike co...

In this episode, we sit down for another conversation with the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB). This time, Molly and Jo talk with Supervisory Chemical Incident Investigator Lauren Johnson , Chemical Incident Investigator Melike Yersiz, P.E. , and Video Producer and Public Affairs Specialist Shauna Lawhorne . We discuss how each CSB employee ended up at the agency, what a...

In this episode, Molly and Magi sit down with two U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) chemical incident investigators, Lauren Grim, P.E., CFEI and Drew Sahli. Lauren and Drew detail how each of their career paths led them to their current roles, what their jobs as chemical incident investigators are like, and, for those interested in also working at the CSB, the type of backg...

We've made it to episode 100, can you believe it? We invite you to celebrate this milestone with us in today's very special episode. Join the current Amplify team members as well as two former team members in reminiscing about the early days of the podcast, hear some fun facts about our audience, episodes, and past guests, learn which of our episodes made the top 10 most popular list, our...

In today's episode, Rob sits down with Blaine J. Hoffmann, from The SafetyPro Podcast, to discuss his new book, titled "Rethinking SAFETY Culture". Blaine details why he was motivated to write the book, how he defines safety culture, and discusses ways to implement the ideas he presents in "Rethinking SAFETY Culture". He also talks about his recommendations for digital safe...

In this episode, Rob is joined by the newest member of the Amplify Process Safety team, Magi Riech. Rob sits down with Magi to talk about her background and her journey into process safety throughout her career, and what fuels her passion for PSM/RMP. Welcome to the A Team, Magi! To connect with Magi, find her on LinkedIn here or email her at magali.riech@amplifyconsultants.com. To learn more abou...

In this episode, Molly is joined by the newest member of the A Team, Magi Riech, to discuss the CSB's final investigation report on the 2020 fatal oil and gas well blowout in Burleson County, Texas. The incident occurred on January 29, 2020, and the CSB released their final investigation report on this incident on December 26, 2023. On the day of the incident, oil and gas escaped the well during w...

In this very special episode, Rob and Molly sit down with Mike Washington, who is the Director of Industrial Safety at Arkema Inc,. The Americas, and also an adjunct lecturer at Prairie View A&M University and the University of Houston. They discuss the challenges of educating the next generation of engineers and managers on process safety, and touch on what current gaps they see, best practic...

On April 2, 2019, the KMCO production facility in Crosby, TX, was producing sulfurized isobutylene as a lubrication additive, when they experienced a leak from a fracture in a segment of piping. The leaking material formed a vapor cloud and then found an ignition source, resulting in the death of one employee and serious injuries to two other employees. In this episode, Rob and Molly discuss what...

On January 28, 2021, the Foundation Food Group facility in Gainesville, Georgia, experienced a liquid nitrogen release that ultimately resulted in six employee fatalities. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released their final investigation report into this incident on December 11, 2023, and today Molly and Jo are here to cover all of the report's highlights. We'll walk you through deta...

On December 6, 2023, the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released its final report into the 2017 fatal dust explosion and fire at the Didion Milling Facility in Cambria, WI. In today's episode, Rob and Jo give you an overview of the CSB's findings, covering what happened, the causes, the recommendations CSB made, what types of companies could be at risk from incidents like this one, and key...

In this extra special episode, the whole Amplify crew is here to talk about how 2023 unfolded in terms of process safety. They cover an overview of CSB accidental release events as well as other process safety events they tracked across multiple countries and industries throughout the year, and what their big takeaways are from looking at all the data available for these incidents. In the second h...

In this episode, Molly is joined by Brad Bazargani, who listeners may recognize as one of the process safety professionals who participated in Episode 84. Today, Molly and Brad discuss how to integrate process safety into large capital projects, including when PHAs should be conducted and which methodology should be used, managing changes, considerations for facility siting, development of operato...

In this episode, Rob and Molly cover the latest CSB final report on the 2021 fatal vapor explosion and fire at the Yenkin-Majestic facility in Columbus, OH. On April 8, 2021, a mixture of flammable naphtha solvent vapors and resin liquid escaped through the seal of a closed manway of an operating kettle and created a flammable vapor cloud, which quickly found an ignition source. The resulting expl...

In this episode, Rob and Jo talk about CMMS, or computerized maintenance managements systems. You'll learn how to make the best CMMS platform selection for your facility, important considerations you should make when it comes to the set up of your CMMS platform, and how to ensure your CMMS gets updated as changes are made in your facility. They'll also talk customization options, mobile ap...

In today's episode Rob and Molly answer two important questions when it comes to senior management and process safety: 1) Why is it important for senior management to understand process safety, and 2) how can senior management lead the company to ensure that process safety is a high priority? They cover historic catastrophic impacts when process safety has not been prioritized, the Business Ca...

In this episode, Molly is joined by guest Tom Kuechler. Tom (Ph. D., inorganic chemistry) has over 35 years of experience in the water treatment industry (pool/spas, drinking water, and cooling towers), chiefly with chlorinated isocyanurates, including 15 years at Occidental Chemical Corporation’s trichloroisocyanuric acid plant. His responsibilities have included product and application research,...

Molly and Rob are back with Part 2 of Operator Training in this companion episode to Episode 77 - Operator Training - Part 1: Initial Training . Today they're talking operator refresher training; what's required by PSM & RMP, what's considered a best practice, and some training considerations for facilities with infrequent turnarounds. If you haven't already, be sure to also ch...

So it's your first time on a Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) team, and you don't know what exactly to expect. Start with this episode! In this episode, Rob and Molly discuss everything you need to know as a first-time PHA team member. They cover the goals of a PHA, the basics of the most common PHA methodologies, PHA team members and requirements, ground rules for the study sessions, how the...