Pages

Sunday, November 30, 2008

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

 

Questions, Problems, Feedback? Please send email by clicking this link...Thanks

©Copyright 2008-2012. Combustible Dust Policy Institute
The information in http://dustexplosions.blogspot.com/ is not meant to be a substitute for the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Federal Register, and other OSHA documents, which should serve as the primary source of regulatory guidance. The information on this site should not be used in place of appropriate technical or legal advice related to your company's specific circumstances. Combustible Dust Policy Institute tries to provide quality information, but we make no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to this web site and its associated sites. Combustible Dust Policy Institute has no liability arising from or relating to the use, interpretation, or application of the information or its accuracy or inaccuracy. Copyright notice: All materials in this site are copyrighted by the Combustible Dust Policy Institute. No materials may be directly or indirectly published, posted to Internet and intranet distribution channels, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed in any medium without permission.