Industrial Fire Prevention

From Risk management Masters: Risks can come from many directions, including legal, financial, disaster (natural or man made) and health, among other areas. The following top 50 risk management blogs looks at those areas and offers current information about management solutions for businesses across the spectrum. These blogs also look at various topics such as project management , technology, communications, safety and business continuity.

U.S. Industrial Fires/Explosions in this weeks news: VIDEO: Explosion at South Los Angeles Titanium Storage Warehouse for Golf Club Manufacturing | The Cardinal Source: arlingtoncardinal.com LA Fire Dept spraying water on a titanium fire. Guess what happens next? When exposed to elevated temperatures in air, titanium readily reacts with oxygen. This occurs at 1,200 °C (2,190 °F) in air, and at 610 °C (1,130 °F) in pure oxygen, forming titanium dioxide. As a result, the metal cannot be melted in open air since it burns before the melting point is reached. Melting is only possible in an inert atmosphere or in a vacuum.  Titanium can react explosively when contacted with water or even humid air. Video: Fire destroys former Ethan Allen plant Workers accidentally ignite blaze that levels the 220,000-square-foot. Watch the video. According to GoErie.com, state police fire marshals said fire was accidentally ignited by workers who were using tor...

From Feedstuffs.com Jacqui Fatka. OSHA looks to expand authority without legislation (12/7/2010) Jacqui Fatka Coverage from the 2010 National Grain and Feed Assn. Country Elevator Meeting held in Indianapolis, Ind. Dec. 5-7.  Now that the Democrats are no longer the controlling majority in the House, many of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) objectives can't be achieved though legislation. Moving forward, Jonathan Snare, partner in the labor and employment practice group for Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP in Washington, D.C., said he expects OSHA to continue to implement as many policies as they can through non-legislative means. Snare, a former OSHA administrator under the Bush administration, pointed out that many of the top officials including assistant secretary of labor for OSHA David Michaels and deputy assistant secretary Jordan Barab have no private sector work experience, take an anti-employer view, ...

Case study from Allianz Risk Consulting Explosion Hazard in a Starch Facility: Risk Management in Practice   Allianz Risk Consultants are trained to assess many different types of risk, including those that can pose a potential personal threat. Oftentimes, the nature of their work puts them in harm's way. Recently, Rod Greenwood, Senior Consulting Engineer, encountered just such a threat when conducting a tour of a National Starch facility in the US. When Rod toured the plant on a recent visit, there was a coating of corn starch on just about everything in sight that was higher than 3 feet (1 m) from the floor.  Two "haze" areas were also found where corn starch suspended in the air made it difficult to see the wall on the other side of the room. Rod realized that this plant posed a safety risk, as fires and explosions could result from the large amounts of corn starch dust.  For safety reasons, the tour was stopped and immediately recommenda...