In December 2011, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) published two standards, an updated edition of ISO 19011, Guidelines for auditing management systems, and a new standard covering emergency management, ISO 22320, Societal security—Emergency management—Requirements for incident response. ISO 19011:2011 ISO believes that the revision of ISO 19011 will save money, time, and resources
[continue reading…]

Two significant storage tank fires occurred in Europe the week of May 30, 2011—one in Gibraltar and one in southwest Wales. Tragically, the Wales explosion and fire resulted in four people dead and a fifth in critical condition. Coincidentally, last week I was working on a project reviewing hazards and risks associated with some new
[continue reading…]

Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC) was formed in 2010 when Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell committed US$1 billion to develop a containment response system that could operate in the Gulf of Mexico in 10,000 feet of water and process up to 100,000 barrels of fluid and 200 million cubic feet of gas per day. In May 2011, MWCC opened its headquarters in Houston […]

In October 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) extended the Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasures (SPCC) compliance date by one year for certain facilities. Facilities covered under the October 2010 amendments have until November 10, 2011 to implement their new or amended SPCC Plans in accordance with revisions that have been made to the
[continue reading…]