Dust explosion
Running motors and low voltage ac drives on plants with dusty environments has been regulated under the ATEX directives since 2006. Steve Ruddell explains the detail
Good for everyone
Workplace regulations may not be facing radical change, but their implementation and policing certainly are. Brian Tinham reports on the price of the cuts
A case of too little, too late
With the HSE's consultation period now closed on the proposal to change employers' statutory reporting requirements, under RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations), from over three days to seven for workplace-related injuries, reactions from across industry have, unsurprisingly, been mixed.
A process of elimination
Mercifully, serious incidents in the process industries are few and far between. Sadly, however, when they do happen, they're devastating. Consider Flixborough back in 1974, Piper Alpha in the North Sea in 1988 and, much more recently, Buncefield and BP Texas City. So it's against this background that we now operate chemical, petrochemical and similar hazardous process plants in tightly regulated environments.