Malt Silo Explosion in Germany kills 1, injures 7

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/30/europe/EU-Germany-Factory-Explosion.php

Here in the USA we all pray for the families and emergency responders that experienced a tragic event quite similar to the Imperial Sugar Refinery dust explosion at Port Wentworth, Georgia in Feb. 2008. The German news account stated, "There was a first explosion at 07.00 AM causing the fire fighters to rush in, then at 09.00 AM there was in the midst of firefighting activities a second explosion, fatal for one fire fighter, injuring 7 others." Sounds eerily familiar, a more deadly secondary explosion.

Combustible dust related fires and explosions are a constant threat to fire-fighters responding to such events. In many instances the hazards of seemingly harmless combustible particulate solids that generate combustible dust are unknown.

The explosion severity of many combustible dusts are quite similar to flammable vapors, liquids, and gases. Currently many national manufacturing industries in the USA have not acknowledged this fact.

This catastrophic event in GLOBAL MALT GMBH & CO KG, in Germany should be a wake up call for stakeholders in the USA in following similar process safety management (PSM) programs that are required by OSHA at petrochemical refineries where a thorough process hazard analysis is conducted, which identifies, evaluates, and institutes control measures in lessening the occurrence and reducing the severity of future events.

Note: You can easily translate from German to English if add the Google Toolbar to your browser. Click the link for free download

Photo Credit: SWR

Resources:

Brewing Process-
Dave Statter's Blog: STATter 911
German News Article
Aftermath Pictures http://is.gd/9Dd6