Online Training Centre Opens

Adult learners in class

Online Training Centre Opens You’ve been challenged to start doing risk assessments on your machine designs, but you don’t know where to start. Perhaps you’ve bought a few standards or a book or two, hoping to figure it all out, but you never seem to be able to stay focused long enough to get what…

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Problems with our websites

Figure holding a large red wrench

Apologies Just a quick note to all our readers to explain the outages we’ve been having. First, I apologize for the downtime and sporadic outages you’ve probably experienced. We tried and failed to avoid those issues, but we think everything is sorted out now. Moving house is never easy We outgrew the capabilities of our…

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A Note about Our Travel Policy

We believe travel gives us a broad perspective both personally and professionally. Our focus is global. Our ethical position is clear; we believe in the health and safety of ALL people. We believe in the power of scientific data and in the power of connecting with others globally, so we might learn from one another.

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Reflections on Fukushima

Earthquake and Tsunami damage - Fukushima Dai Ichi Power Plant

The Lessons from Fukushima It’s now almost three months since the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan’s northeast coast on 11-March. Recently, IEEE Spectrum’s Eliza Strickland interviewed Tsuneo Futami, Superintendent of the Fukushima Dai Ichi plant from 1997 to 2000, on the events at Fukushima following the tsunami… Futami: … TEPCO’s civil engineering group estimates the…

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The Problem with Probability

Risk Factors When risk is analyzed, at least in the industrial sector, we usually follow a process defined in ISO 12100. This approach defines two broad parameters, severity and probability, and then further subdivides probability into sub-parameters that are helpful for analyzing machinery hazards. This post explores the difficulty with assessing the probability parameter. If…

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