What’s Going On? From the Strait of Hormuz to OSHA’s Heat Safety Enforcement
As you are well aware, looking outside your normal scope helps you find inspiration. I was poking around the websites of Chemical Processing’s sister brands and found great content that matters to our audience. Coverage spans geopolitical risk in the Strait of Hormuz, OSHA's updated heat safety enforcement and the construction industry's mentorship gap as experienced workers retire. Business stories cover tariff refund deadlines and PFAS-free lubricant regulations, while operations-focused pieces examine reliability culture warning signs, bulk solids handling ROI and single-use technology in biopharma manufacturing.
Let’s get into the good stuff.
1. Strait of Hormuz Watch: Weekly Snapshot of Energy Disruptions and Maritime Conditions
Publication: IndustryWeek
A running weekly tracker of transit activity, oil prices, U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve levels and geopolitical developments around the Strait of Hormuz — including new tanker attacks reported July 6-7 and stalled U.S.-Iran negotiations.
Why it matters: Chemical processors depend heavily on oil- and gas-derived feedstocks; disruptions in this chokepoint ripple straight into feedstock costs, shipping rates and fertilizer/LNG availability.
2. Podcast: Why 5S Doesn't Need a Sixth 'S' for Safety
Publication: IndustryWeek
Hosts of “Behind the Curtain” argue that adding a separate "safety" S to the 5S lean methodology is redundant — safety is already built into each of the five steps — and that doing so may actually signal a weak safety culture.
Why it matters: 5S is a staple of housekeeping and hazard reduction on chemical plant floors; this challenges how EHS and continuous-improvement teams frame their programs.
3. Podcast: How to Stay Cool on the Job as Temperatures Soar
Publication: EHS Today
Korey Stringer Institute's Maggie Morrissey walks through OSHA's updated heat National Emphasis Program, realistic acclimatization planning and her RESHAPE framework for protecting workers in extreme heat.
Why it matters: Chemical operations often combine high-heat processes, heavy PPE and outdoor tasks — heat-illness prevention is directly applicable and under growing OSHA scrutiny.
4. Bridging the Mentorship Gap: Enhancing Construction Site Safety Amid Baby Boomer Retirement
Publication: EHS Today
As experienced baby boomers retire from construction, they take with them tacit hazard-recognition skills that formal training can't replicate. The article lays out six steps for formalizing mentorship before that knowledge walks out the door.
Why it matters: Chemical plants face the same demographic cliff — losing veteran operators means losing the informal, real-time judgment calls that keep processes safe.
5. How To File for a Tariff Refund
Publication: Food Processing
A practical guide to the federal CAPE portal for reclaiming IEEPA tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court, including filing deadlines and lessons from a small spice importer that successfully navigated the process.
Why it matters: Many chemical processors imported raw materials or equipment under the same now-refundable tariffs — the deadlines and filing tips apply directly.
6. Balancing Lubrication Performance While Maintaining Regulatory Compliance
Publication: Food Processing
NSF International experts discuss the industry's shift to PFAS-free, food-grade lubricants and the challenge of maintaining performance under extreme conditions while satisfying an increasingly fragmented set of global regulations.
Why it matters: Lubricant selection, PFAS phase-outs and changeover/cross-contamination risk are equally pressing concerns for chemical plants, especially those operating across multiple regulatory regions.
7. Single-Use Tech: From Convenience to Core Biopharma Strategy
Publication: Pharma Manufacturing
Single-use bioreactors and components are shifting from a cost-saving convenience to a core strategy enabling hybrid facilities, process intensification and continuous manufacturing as biologics pipelines diversify.
Why it matters: Specialty and fine chemical producers that supply or compete with biopharma manufacturing will recognize the same push toward flexible facilities and continuous processing playing out in their own plants.
8. Schneider Electric Launches AI-Powered Platform for Utility Network Management
Publication: WaterWorld
Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure Water Advisor combines SCADA, sensor and billing data with AI analytics and digital twin technology to help water utilities cut losses and shift from reactive to proactive operations.
Why it matters: Chemical plants are major water users increasingly adopting digital twins and AI-driven asset monitoring — the leak-detection and predictive-maintenance approach translates directly to process water systems.
9. Ask a Powder Pro: What Total Cost of Ownership Factors Beyond Initial Purchase Price Should Be Included in ROI Calculations When Purchasing a Bulk Solids Handling System?
Publication: Processing Magazine
A powder-handling expert breaks down what belongs in a true total-cost-of-ownership calculation for bulk solids systems beyond sticker price — parts availability, maintenance labor and in-house versus outsourced service.
Why it matters: Chemical processors that handle powders and bulk solids face the same purchasing pitfalls; the framework helps justify capital decisions to finance and operations leadership.
10. Podcast: AI for Refineries and Chemical Plants: Improving Margins, Reliability and Process Safety
Publication: Processing Magazine
On the “Ear on Processing” podcast, Archimetis CEO and co-founder Paul Manwell explains how industrial AI platforms can flag equipment fouling early and speed up engineering analysis across complex, interconnected process units.
Why it matters: This one's a direct hit for the audience — fouling detection and faster engineering analysis go straight to margin, uptime and process safety in refineries and chemical plants.
11. 10 Warning Signs Your Reliability Culture Is Broken
Publication: Plant Services
Reliability expert Joe Kuhn lists the management behaviors — from firefighting mode to leading from the conference room instead of the shop floor — that quietly destroy plant reliability culture, and what leaders should do instead.
Why it matters: Reliability and maintenance culture are top-of-mind in chemical plants, where equipment failure carries real safety and environmental stakes; the list works as a quick self-diagnostic for plant leaders.
12. Granulators, Shredders Cut Plastic Waste Down to Size
Publication: Plastics Machinery Manufacturing
New AI-enabled granulators and shredders from CMG, Bruno Folcieri, Hellweg, Vecoplan and Weima, showcased at K 2025, promise higher throughput, lower energy use and predictive maintenance for plastics recyclers.
Why it matters: Chemical companies producing or recycling polymers can apply these size-reduction and vibration-monitoring innovations directly to plastics recycling and feedstock-prep operations.
About the Author
Traci Purdum
Editor-in-Chief
Traci Purdum, an award-winning business journalist with extensive experience covering manufacturing and management issues, is a graduate of the Kent State University School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Kent, Ohio, and an alumnus of the Wharton Seminar for Business Journalists, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Recent Awards:
2025 Eddie Award for her column "Lax Regulations Burn Rivers"
2024 Jesse H. Neal Award for best podcast Process Safety with Trish & Traci