Australian Safety Alert: Boiler Explosions

http://www.safetowork.com.au/news/nopsa-safety-alert-on-boiler-furnace-explosions

Brings back memories of the catastrophic Valero boiler explosion on Dec. 4, 2009, from a startup failure

Australian National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority (NOPSA) Safety Case Approach utilizes an objective based (or goal setting) regime for workplace safety.

"The workforce must be involved.Workforce involvement is necessary so they know what happens in practice and why. This makes it more likely that they do the rig...ht thing because they know why, rather than relying on a 'rules-based' culture. "

In contrast here in the USA, the workforce in not involved in developing a safe workplace. Thus our OSHA rules based prescriptive culture with incentives (citations/fines) that the OSHA Director recently emphasized at a congressional hearing. Wouldn't it be nice if someday we could collaborate with our global trading partners so as to learn of alternative solutions in occupational health and safety? Of course the politics of ever changing administrations does not allow that.

Valero Sues Company, Catastrophic Boiler Blast

http://www.setexasrecord.com/news/225570-valero-sues-manufacturer-over-faulty-boiler

"On Dec. 4, 2009, spurred from a startup failure that eventually led to a blast killing one worker and injuring two. An "unexpected and undesigned" mixture of air and fuel gas inside the firebox reportedly ignited the blaze."