Industrial Fire Prevention

Mill Explosion Injures Three | From Powder/Bulk Solids Mill Explosion Injures Three October 13, 2014 Three mill workers were injured Thursday morning in an explosion at a wood pellet plant in northern British Columbia that was recently fined for "repeated" safety violations. According to Leroy Reitsma, president of Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc., the incident happened at about 8am at a facility near Burns Lake operated by the company. Three workers were injured – one seriously. The cause of the fire was unknown, but was said to have started inside a drying machine during a maintenance shutdown. An investigation is ongoing Two fatal explosions in 2012 at the Burns Lake facility and one in Prince George were linked to combustible wood dust. It is not known if wood dust was the cause of Thursday’s explosion. The plant was the site of a...

Grain and other Combustible Dusts are now Labeled as Hazardous Chemical From FarmFutures.com/blog Grain Dust Labeled a Hazardous Chemical? Defending Agriculture New regulations mean dust at grain elevators may be treated like hazardous chemical release Published on: November 12, 2014 In late October the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued an opinion supporting the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on regulating businesses that handle and process grain and other agricultural products which create dust. The case was a challenge to OSHA's revised Hazard Communication Standard, which in effect states that grain dust is a hazardous chemical. But you may want a little background on how the  Government's regulatory wheels spin before this makes much sense. OSHA already sets workplace requirements for the control of grain dust which may create fires, explosions and safety hazards associated with grain handling facilities.  OSHA'...

From Chem.info Spontaneous Combustion Destroys Grain Plant Wed, 11/05/2014 - 1:26pm (AP) — Investigators in western New York say spontaneous combustion of animal feed started the fire that destroyed a large grain mill and storage facility operated by Minnesota-based Land O' Lakes. Fire crews from more than two dozen departments battled the fire that broke out Saturday night at Commodity Resource Corp. in the Livingston County town of Caledonia, 15 miles south of Rochester. The company says the site is the largest dairy feed manufacturing facility and dry fertilizer distribution center in the region. The plant was closed at the time of the fire. On Tuesday, Caledonia Deputy Chief John Murray told media outlets the fire was caused by spontaneous combustion. That's the same thing that sparked a September fire at a Cargill feed plant in Salem near the Vermont border.