I was building a pizza hut on the west side of Indianapolis in the mid seventies. An inspector visited our job site. We did not know he was coming, we were just using normal safe working habits. After looking us over, checking paperwork, checking electric polarity, etc, etc . . . after he could not find anything he claimed my worklamp was an electrical hazzard because it had a reflector.

Let “them” take charge and bury the tree of Liberty.

OSHA is taking comments on a recent rule regarding the transportation and care of explosives. Nothing wrong with that, right? Unfortunately, they seem to have expanded the definition of explosives a bit, and not in a good way.The Occupational Safety……

liquidflorian on July 10, 2007 at 12:57 PM

Actually, it works like this;

1. Liquid fuels such as those you mentioned combust in the vapor phase, not the liquid phase; think of a mist of finely-divided droplets. When confined in an enclosed space, this combustion causes a rapid pressure spike and expansion effect, i.e., an explosion. Compression of the vapor prior to initiation causes a more powerful “bang”. This is how your car’s engine works- Intake- Compression- Ignition- Exhaust, the classic “four-stroke” Otto cycle.

Any liquid fuel packs more explosive wallop per gram than a propellant powder (smokeless, black, or otherwise) simply because being a liquid, there are no “air spaces”- every bit of the available volume consists of a hydrocarbon or other similar molecule just waiting for something (like heat) to crack its bonds and let it decompose to elemental hydrogen and oxygen. (Which it tends to do instantly, and violently.) This is why liquid-fueled rockets almost always have higher Isp (specific impulse) than solid-fueled ones.

The important thing to remember is the vapor phase. A full, tightly capped can of gasoline probably won’t explode if it’s in a fire. What may happen, though, is that the heat will cause it to “boil off” (i.e., heat it above its vaporization temperature), at which point there will be a gas-expansion effect, the can may “pop” like a balloon, the fuel will be vaporized as a mist in the fire area, and- can you say “major-league accelerant resulting in explosive fuel-air reaction”?

(The above courtesy of someone who took Arson Investigation lo, these many years ago.)

cheers

eon

Believe that the 2nd only applies to muskets!

Apparently OSHA is planning to put extra regulations on stores that sell ammo. It won’t stop ammo sales but just……

A flash in the pan, one hopes.
profitsbeard on July 10, 2007 at 11:04 AM

I get the pun and hope so to.

I tried yesterday to file a comment with OSHA, and I thought they wanted “too” much personal information about myself. I am a voice of the citizenry first, an individual second. Typical big government bureaucracy tactic to put an individual on the stand in order to stand for you rights. I knew it would only be a matter of time until they figured out that without bullets, guns are useless. Today I am, John Doe 123 Main St. Anytown, USA.

We need to swamp the regulations’ web-site with our outrage. I encourage everyone to post their disgust on the web-site then return and proudly display your docket number. Mine is 802265b52.

Enough of our elected officals spitting at us.

There are 90 million gun owners in America (4 million of whom are dues paying members of the NRA and another 3/4 million members of GOA). So, to those gun owners that read this blog: IF YOU DON’T GO TO THE WEBSITE (www.regulations.gov) AND LODGE A PROTEST, YOU SUCK!

georgej on July 10, 2007 at 1:17 PM

I tried to leave a comment but it wont go through, Dangit!

Clearly this is “back-door” gun control. Not only do the regulations impact the manufacturers and retailers of ammunition, they impact both the home reloader and the end retail purchaser of ammunition.

To say that these regulation will cause the price of ammunition to skyrocket is an understatement. The scenarios supplied by the NRA (see above) are also understated. The practical effect of these regulations are much worse. They will put an end to the retail sale of ammunition at sporting goods departments across America. They will cause every firearm in America to be useless relics — something which is a wet dream of every gun grabber.

Those who reload their own ammunition for either cost or to achieve greater accuracy than standard factory loaded ammunition will be effectively shut down and prohibited from doing so. These regulations simply beg for your local Stalinist Mayor or city council to ban this activity “for public safety” reasons, because (after all) OSHA had declared it to be a “dangerous” activity.

Those who shoot a lot (competitive target or skeet/trap shooters, for example) will find limits on the amount of ammunition they can possess at any time, unless they invest in costly external “magazines” on their property. OSHA regulations say so.

Permits and licenses to “possess ammunition” at home would be right around the corner.

This is a “camel’s nose-in-the-tent” attempt to directly undermine the Second Amendment. And it’s simply not necessary. The ammunition industry has an exemplary safety record. Modern propellants are stable (unlike the gun powder used for fireworks), easily transportable, and burn at a consistant rate under almost all environmental conditions. In terms of volitility, modern propellents are considerably safer to handle than gasoline. And Americans safely handle millions of barrels of gasoline on a daily basis.

There are 90 million gun owners in America (4 million of whom are dues paying members of the NRA and another 3/4 million members of GOA). So, to those gun owners that read this blog: IF YOU DON’T GO TO THE WEBSITE (www.regulations.gov) AND LODGE A PROTEST, YOU SUCK!

Let’s jump on this as if it were amnesty!

boomer on July 10, 2007 at 8:19 AM

+1

Black powder, propane, gasoline, if one is too dangerous they all are.

Hening on July 10, 2007 at 8:23 AM

Its been a long time sense physics class, but all of these burn, not explode. They only explode when they’re ignited under pressure. Am I right?

How typical of the bureaucrats to come up with non-sense like this. I’m going to visit the OSHA website right now.

Well, the government completely ignores the Constitution in pretty much every regard, so why not the second amendment? Rule of law? What’s that?

LOL that should be a bumper sticker… SAFETY KILLS !

In the case of OSHA and the EPA, no doubt… its true !

Maxx on July 10, 2007 at 9:20 AM

It is true of the FAA too. After all, they were buddies with Valujet and supportive of them, even though Valuejet was carrying illegal items together (tires and oxigenizers). Don’t forget that they were running around telling everyone that Valujet was safe enough for them to fly on it.

The FAA had systematically turned a blind eye to the safety violations that Valujet was committing.