Stakeholder and AHJ Collaboration

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Stakeholder and AHJ Collaboration

A few days ago, I posted the following blog titled COMBUSTIBLE WOOD FLOUR - "Factory fire causes $350000 damage"

This blog post talked about a combustible dust fire that happened in a facility creating wood flour.  From the perspective of someone who is in these plants on a weekly basis, and sees the potential safety issues every day, this was an unusually well written and detailed article.

One important thing to note about this news story, is the collaboration between the stakeholders - the company personnel, and the AHJ - Authority Having Jurisdiction, as well as the news media.  I was impressed by the detail in the story, and the cooperation between stakeholders.

Often when I read a story this detailed I can visualize exactly what happened at this plant, because I have seen the same thing many times.  Although more typically, most media accounts do not contain enough detail or research to be able to accurately tell what happened.

It is impressive in this story that the plant personnel and the local fire personnel had collaborated, walked through the plant, analyzed the process and discussed the issues and solutions, then relayed the information to the media.  


It is this kind of cooperation, and reporting that is crucial to educating the rest of the community and industry at large about the dangers of combustible dust.

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