Dust Explosion in Carpentry Shop-Fire Drill | Ahlener Zeitung

• Dust explosion in a carpentry operation -Fire Department Drill - Annotated-

  Great idea with fire department in Germany conducting drills working closely with manufacturing sector management preparing for a combustible dust related fire or explosion occurrence. When was the last time your facility had a fire drill working closely with the local fire department? "Know Before You Go"

  tags: fire-fighting, emergency response, emergency preparedness, dust explosion

  • Staubexplosion in einem Schreinereibetrieb
    • Dust explosion in a carpentry operation - post by comdust
    • 
      
  • Zum Glück handelte es sich nur um eine Übung am Dienstag,
    • "Fortunately it was just an exercise on Tuesday" This is a great idea with fire department conducting fire drills at manufacturing facilities that generate combustible dust - post by comdust
    • 
      
  • „Durchzündung
    • Flash Overs (Durchzündung) - post by comdust
    • 
      
  • Spänebunker als Sammelbecken für die Absauganlage.
    • "Chip Bunker as reservoirs for the exhaust." One area where the combustible dust explosion hazard exists - post by comdust
    • 
      
  • Während der gesamten Übung wurde zudem erstmals das Verhalten der Feuerwehrleute digital festgehalten, sodass bei der anschließenden Manöverkritik im Gerätehaus die Bilder eine wertvolle Hilfe bei der Bewertung der Übung waren.
    • "Throughout the exercise was also the first time the behavior of the firefighters digitally recorded, so when the subsequent maneuvers Tool criticism in the pictures is a valuable aid in the evaluation of the exercise were." - post by comdust

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School Combustible Dust Hazard Awareness

• School inspections reveal unsafe combustible dust hazards | Expatica The Netherlands - Annotated

  Just as in the Netherlands, combustible dust hazards exist in schools here in the USA that have vocational training in their metal, wood, and auto workshops

  tags: combustible dust hazards, Schools, Vocational Training

  • Inspections revealed that metal, wood, and auto workshops are particularly unsafe.
    • Several combustible dust related fires at schools last year here in the USA also - post by comdust
    • 
      
  • Inspections also revealed that vocational schools are largely ignorant of the risk of wood dust explosions.
    • Same situation in the USA. Combustible dust hazards is a global issue of concern throughout many sectors that a majority of stakeholders are not aware of. - post by comdust
    • 
      
  • According to de Groot, a funding shortage caused the dangerous situations in these schools.
    • Funding is a big issue with the initial combustible dust testing for ignition sensitivity and explosion severity. - post by comdust

Update 6/25/09 School Children Learn about Dust Explosion Hazards

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

OSHA Gloves Come Off with Questionable Press Release

• OSHA Gloves Come Off with Questionable Press Release - Annotated

  This is a very misleading OSHA Region 5 News Release]. There never was any repeat OSHA citations by the Eau Claire, WI Area OSHA Office for this newly acquired facility. The OSHA inspection took place less than 60 days after acquisition from SPF North America, a pet flavor and ingredient mfg. Additionally none of the citations resulted from many of the same safety and health hazards cited in the most recent inspections. Since there wasn't any recent inspections at the Milk Specialties Whitehall, WI facility

  tags: spray dryer, OSHA citation, press release

  • 
    • Whoa! $1.1 mil - post by comdust
  • Four repeat violations with penalties totaling $21,800
    • These repeats are not from this Whitehall, Wi facility. Milk Specialties operates five other manufacturing plants in Wisconsin and Minnesota - post by comdust
  • citations resulting from many of the same safety and health hazards cited in the most recent inspection.
    • Very misleading. There was never any repeat citations by OSHA at the Whitehall, WI facility. The facility was purchased from SPF North America in October 2008 and the OSHA inspection took place less than 60 days later. - post by comdust

Milk Specialties Scientific Advisory Committee

• Dr. Douglas Burrin, Baylor University
• Dr. James Drackley, University of Illinois
• Dr. Richard Hartel, University of Wisconsin
• Dr. Al Kertz, Andhil LLC
• Dr. Adam Lock, University of Vermont
• Dr. Jack Odle, North Carolina State University
• Dr. Mike Van Amburgh, Cornell University
• Dr. Wang Jiaqi, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Update 6/24/09 The Other Half of the Story

Manufacturing facilities with multi-sites should be aware that if a facility currently receiving a citation and has received an OSHA citation at another site within three years for the same violation will be considered as a repeat citation. Here is an excerpt from Andy Purvin a member of the Online Safety Community that describes the situation

John,
I ran into this a lot at my previous employer. OSHA says since the company has a large enough communications network, relaying information between plants wouldn't be a hardship. Therefore, since they could have "learned" from the previous inspection citations, it technically IS repeat violations.

I argued similar points to yours, but lost. Companies that have multi-site designation are going to be held accountable to update all plants on Regulatory Activity. To combat this, at my current company, when OSHA "visited" one of our locations, I communicated the results to all and confirmed corrective actions had taken place at EVERY location to avoid repeat violations.

Here is additional helpful info that Bryan Haywood CEO & President, SAFTENG.net LLC shares with his comment on "repeat violations" at the LinkedIn Combustible Dust Policy Institute Group discussion:

"Although I can not speak to the question of "new ownership" I can state that a repeat citation can be issued to the facility if a different plant within the company that falls within Federal OSHA and NOT a state plan, has been cited for the same violation. The cited repeat violation does NOT have to have occurred at the same facility...just a facility within the company that falls under Federal OSHA, as I think was this case. You mentioned a MN facility and MN is a state plan, which means citations at the MN facility can NOT be used to issue repeats at a plant under Federal OSHA.

The change in ownership brings a new twist to OSHA's repeat citation policy. Basically, it is a new owner (e.g. new employer) and thus this new owner/employer can not be cited for the previous owners errors. Will be interesting to see if the business challenges these citations and if so if the OSHRC will vacate the citations.

Here is a link to OSHA's repeat citation policy for those interested in how FAR REACHING this policy can be.

[CPL 02-00-148] - Field Operations Manual (FOM)
http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/Directive_pdf/CPL_02-00-148.pdf
You will want to go to Page 4-32, Section VII for the Repeat Citation guidance.

OSHA letter to 30K facilities with ComDust hazards -FOIA

• OSHA letter to 30,000 facilities with combustible dust hazards -FOIA Page - Annotated

  Came across this letter that was sent out to over 30,000 facilities last year by OSHA and thought I'd share with you in case you haven't seen it. There are over 100,000 facilities at risk, which includes many national industries not listed in the Dust NEP. For example, over 50% of ComDust incidents,from media accounts, last year occurred in national industries (NAICS) not referenced in the Dust NEP

  tags: OSHA Dust NEP

  • Combustible dusts are often either organic or metal dusts that are finely ground into very small particles, fibers, fines, chips, chunks, flakes,
    • Don't forget hybrid mixtures, where flammable vapors mixed with combustible dust, decrease the ignition sensitivity and increase explosion severity of the explosion hazard. - post by comdust
      
      
  • Your establishment has been identified as being in an industry
    • What about the thousands of other facilities that were not identified in the OSHA Dust NEP? All facilities that generate combustible dust in the manufacturing process are at risk. If your facility has not been identified in Appendix D-1 and D-2 of national industries (NAICS) in the Dust NEP, you are still at risk. - post by comdust
      
      
  • Failure to attend to housekeeping standards or to conduct maintenance on your ventilation systems or electrical controls places your employees and your facility at risk.
    • Also failure to implement best engineering practices as outlined in the NFPA combustible dust standards. Housekeeping alone will not mininmize the severity and probability of occurence. - post by comdust

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

OSHA Region IV Combustible Dust NEP Enforcement and Inspection

• OSHA Focuses on Combustible Dust Hazards in AL, FL, GA, and MS-GRAINNET News - Annotated

  Inspection and Enforcement activity with the OSHA Dust NEP. What about the four other states in OSHA Region IV? Which includes Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee with approved State Occupational Safety and Health Plans? These states are not required to adopt the OSHA Dust NEP.

• "State plan participation in this national emphasis effort is strongly encouraged but is not required."

• tags: OSHA Region IV, OSHA Dust NEP, inspection, enforcement

  • 26 visits to Alabama companies
  • 37 visits to Florida companies
  • 32 visits to Georgia companies
  • nine visits to Mississippi companies
  • What about the other four states in OSHA Region IV that are State OSHA Plan states? State OSHA plan states are not required to adopt the OSHA Dust NEP? - post by comdust
  • Nationally, 3,662 violations have been identified during 813 inspections.
    
    
    • 813 combustible dust emphasis inspections out of the tens of thousands of manufacturing and non-manufacturing facilities in the United States. Last year OSHA sent out letters to over 30,000 facilities that generate combustible dust from combustible particulate solids. Currently there is over 100,000 facilities in national industries (NAICS) that have combustible dust hazards. Is your facility at risk? Not receiving a letter does not mean a free pass. If your facility generates combustible dust, then now is the time to conduct a hazard analysis so as to assess, evaluate, and control the hazard. - post by comdust
      
      
  • Dust fires and explosions can pose significant dangers in the workplace and can occur when five different factors are present.
    
    
    • Over 30% of the dust explosions in 2008 had prior fires which fire departments had previously responded to. Additionally, last year, 80% of combustible dust incidents were solely fires. Combustible dust related fires are the precursors of eventual dust explosions - post by comdust

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Resources
combustible-dust-letter.html (OSHA Letter to the 30,000)
combdust-mailing-list.zip (mailing list of the 30,000)

Combustible Dust Related Fire Awareness

• Sawmill Fire In Pike County | NBC4i.com - Annotated

  Excellent example of one of dozens combustible dust related fires that occur annually throughout the manufacturing sector. Important mention is made of the repeat response by the local fire departments for combustible dust related fires.

  tags: combustible dust related fire, fire, department, response

  • 'fire calls from time-to-time because the dust'
    • Excellent example of one of dozens combustible dust related fired that occur annually throughout the manufacturing sector. Important mention is made of the repeat response by the local fire departments for combustible dust related fires. - post by comdust

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Elimination of Dust Fire Hazard at Paper Mills

• Wet dust collection system eliminates duct fire hazard at Scott tissue mill | Pulp & Paper | Find Articles at BNET - Annotated

  Excellent article published in Pulp & Paper Oct 2000 by Mark Williamson. The importance of addressing combustible dust related fires is highlighted here. Do you have spark detection and flame suppression as part of your dry dust collector system?

  tags: dust collector, spark, detection_flame, suppression, system Flamex, Grecon

  • DUST IS AN UNDESIRABLE BUT inevitable byproduct of tissue manufacture. It settles everywhere in the machine room. In high concentrations, airborne dust is an occupational health concern
    

    • Maybe it just might be a good idea to add national industries (NAICS) in the paper sector as a potential for combustible dust related fires and explosions. Currently the paper sector does not exists in the OSHA Dust NEP. What do you think? - post by comdust
      
      
  • Scott Paper Limited in Lennoxville, Quebec,
    • Kruger Products Limited, formerly Scott Paper Limited, is Canada's leading manufacturer and distributor of towel and tissue products for consumer, in-home, use and for commercial, away-from-home, use. - post by comdust
      
      
  • The No. 5 machine at the Lennoxville mill generates high levels of dust. There are also high levels of static electricity in the mill, so dust sticks to the walls and the equipment.
    • So there is a combustible dust hazard with paper dust. Hmm..maybe someone at OSHA should also read this for helpful reference, so as to add the sector to the Dust NEP. - post by comdust
      
      
  • Machine cleaning was scheduled two times per week and each cleaning needed 45 minutes to 1 hour of downtime.
    • Housekeeping appears to be very costly - post by comdust
      
      
  • To significantly reduce airborne dust, reduce dust buildup and the potential for fires, and to lessen dust carryover to the final product, the mill looked for alternative dust control systems.
    • Here it is , the potential for combustible dust related fires. Fires are the precursors for combustible dust explosions. Yet they are ignored and dust explosions get all the emphasis instead. Fire departments are repeatedly responding to combustible dust related fired on a regular weekly basis - post by comdust
      
      
  • To protect against the spread of fires in a dry system, special fire control equipment such as spark detection systems, sprinkler systems, and fire doors are commonly used.
    • Notice the importance of best engineering practices as outlined in the NFPA combustible dust standards such as spark detection and flame suppression systems,. Flamex and Grecon are excellent sources for these systems. - post by comdust

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Cogeneration Plant fire/dust explosion in Netherlands .

• In a cogeneration plant in the Netherlands a major fire/dust explosion broke out. - Annotated

  I'd like to thank Roger Bours Sales manager at Fike Europe in Antwerp Area, Belgium for sharing this news story with me so I can share with others in the ComDust network. It's extremely important in conducting risk analysis concerning ComDust hazards that an understanding of probability of occurrence throughout all industries is vital.
  
  Here is just one example where a situational proactive awareness will be helpful to all. To translate the entire article, I highly recommend the Google Toolbar, which has the translate function. In Dutch a dust explosion is referred to as a stofexplosie.

• tags: cogeneration plant, dust explosion, Netherlands, stofexplosie
  
  

  Translations from Dutch of Excerpts
  
  
  
  • DE LIER – In een warmtekrachtcentrale aan de Hofzichtlaan is vrijdagmiddag een grote brand uitgebroken.
    • In a cogeneration plant to the Hofzichtlaan Friday is a major fire broke out. - post by comdust
      
      
  • Oorzaak van de brand is een stofexplosie in een bunker met zaagsel, dat als brandstof voor de warmtekrachtcentrale wordt gebruikt. Persoonlijke ongelukken deden zich niet voor.
    • Translation from Dutch "Cause of the fire is a dust in a bunker with sawdust, as fuel for cogeneration is used. Personal accident did not occur." - post by comdust
      
      
  • Omdat er gevaar bestond van nog meer stofexplosies werden bedrijven en een aantal vrijstaande woningen in de omgeving ontruimd
    • Because there is danger of further explosions were substance and a number of detached dwellings in the area evacuated - post by comdust

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

General Duty Clause Explained -ComDust

http://oshaaboveground.blogspot.com/2009/06/general-duty-clause-citations.html

I highly recommend everyone to mosey on over to the OSHA Aboveground site and read Abel's excellent description of what a combustible dust General Duty Clause citation is all about. If you want to learn more about such citations then visit the OSHA IMIS database where you'll find a multitude of combustible dust General Duty Clause 5(a)(1) citations. You can learn quite a bit about best engineering practices through abatement measures that are found in the NFPA combustible dust standards with references to these in previous OSHA 5(a)(1) citations.

Have fun with your establishment, SIC, and General Duty Clause searches on the database :)

Someday Combustible Dust Monitor for Explosive Concentrations?

• The Basics of Gas Monitors (Part 2) - Online Safety Community

  It would be great if there was a monitor for minimum explosive concentrations (MEC) of combustible dust. Just like there is for LEL of gases and vapors. Which all have the potential for explosive atmospheres as recognized by ATEX in the EU Great post!I

  tags: explosive_atmosphere, LEL, minimum_explosive_concentration, MEC, explosion_monitor

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Economic Aspect OSHA ComDust Regulation Another Issue

• U.S. letting manufacturing slip away | detnews.com | The Detroit News

  Great article. The economic aspect of future governmental regulations concerning manufacturing needs to be addressed in the OSHA ComDust rulemaking.

  tags: manufacturing, OSHA, combustible_dust_rulemaking

  • Countries -- China, India, Russia, Brazil -- are no different. They understand the value of making things and selling them to others, the contribution competitive manufacturing makes to stability, economic growth and innovation.
  • But she was short -- indeed, silent in her opening remarks -- on tax, regulatory and other government-assessed burdens weighing on business, partly explaining why the Big Mitten has lost so many of the jobs she rightly lamented.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Remodeling/Hot Work Adjacent to Combustible Dust Hazard

Remodeling work continues to present ignition hazards adjacent to combustible dust hazards. The news report does not mention whether the injured worked was a contractor or not. Would flame resistant clothing (FRC'S) minimized the burn injuries?

• Man Burned in Chemical Dust Fire - Updated

  "He was using a cutting torch to remove some metal, some spark then ignited some old paint dust on the floor and it rapidly spread throughout the interior of the paint booth,"says Corporal Mark Chamberlain, Webster County Sheriff's Office.

  tags: dust_explosion, remodeling

  • remodeling/hot work combustible dust hazards - post by comdust

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Footprints to Disaster-Combustible Dust

Justin Clift, Industrial Market Specialist at Hazard Control Technologies shares with readers at the Industrial Fire Journal an educational article in understanding how to assess, evaluate, and control combustible dust hazards in the workplace. Justin has extensive experience in providing coal fired power plants the professional guidance in minimizing the probability and reducing the severity of combustible dust related fires and explosions. There are dozens of other national industries that also have combustible dust hazards and stakeholders can acquire a basic understanding in how combustible dust hazards develop so as to initiate preventative and mitigative measures using administrative controls and best engineering practices as outlined in the article.

Enlightening topics that are discussed in Justin's very thorough article are float dust, fugitive dust, fire department education on combustible dust hazards, and incident investigation follow-up of combustible dust incidents no matter how minor. Of extreme importance highlighted in the article is the explosive severity, where the Kst of combustible dust can change during the process while transferring from different stages during product movement. This problem is not just specific to the handling of coal but throughout all manufacturer sectors. Do you know the Kst of your raw products during the manufacturing process?

For additional questions specific to your facility or if your facility desires training courses, focusing on Fire Protection/Suppression/Prevention and Emergency Response contact Justin at Hazard Control Technologies

Resource
A blueprint for disaster Justin Clift Article in Industrial Fire Journal