Industrial Fire Prevention

US combustible dust standard now in place 31 May 2016 According to OHS Online, the US National Fire Protection Association’s new combustible dust standard, NFPA 652, Standard on the Fundamentals of Combustible Dust, is now in effect. It is the latest in a series of NFPA standards that apply to combustible dusts after 61, 484, 654, 655, and 664, and includes the important new requirement of dust hazard analysis.   This was announced at the American Industrial Hygiene Conference & Exposition (AIHce) 2016 event in Baltimore, OHS Online reported.  Susan Berhad, the NFPA staff liaison for the combustible dust project, made the announcement during a May 25 presentation on the standard at the event. The 652 standard sets out three fundamental principles: controlling the fuel, controlling the ignition sources, and limiting the spread of any combustion event. Redesigning facilities is not retroactive under the standard, Berhad said. But management of chan...

Using Listening to Avoid "Deadly" Resolutions   Jeff Griffin Director of Sales & Business Development at Fauske & Associates, LLC Using Listening to Avoid "Deadly" Resolutions Jan 12, 2016 While catching up on my reading from before the holidays, I ran across a short piece in EHS Today , which gave a “Top-5 List” of the industries that are most "at risk" for combustible dust explosions. I appreciate these types of articles, and New Year’s lists in general because they are good for raising awareness about important topics and motivating change. As someone in the safety industry, I am most interested in those lists that address the risks found in industry, whether with combustible dust, flammability, orthermal hazards. “It Doesn’t Apply to Me” The danger with looking at anyone else's list is that it is easy to take a quick look and infer that the list “does not apply to me”. This happens a lot when dealing with process ...