Industrial Fire Prevention

From The Code Coach: Establishing Fire Protection and Life Safety Objectives What is the purpose of a fire inspection program?  Why do fire prevention bureaus exist?  For what reasons do fire protection and code consultants exist?  How can you know if your prevention program is accomplishing its objectives? In 1975 the American Insurance Association published "Special Interest Bulletin No. 5, The Value and Purpose of Fire Department Inspections".   This bulletin outlined 7 objectives for an inspection program.  As you examine these objectives, evaluate your department, company, or organization and determine whether you are meeting these objectives, which of these you are great at, and which objectives need more of your attention. To obtain proper life safety conditions.  To keep fires from starting. To keep fires from spreading. To determine adequacy and maintenance of fire protection systems. To preplan fire fighting procedures. To stim...

From Auto News:   NADA » NADA Convention How to contain aluminum dust? Shops must put up curtain -- or a wall Ford says a rubberized curtain will keep aluminum dust from settling on steel parts and corroding them. Some body shops say only a wall will do.     Bradford Wernle Automotive News January 24, 2015 - 2:00 pm ET    Published in Automotive News June 6, 2014 Curtains or walls? It's a big decision that Ford dealers with body shops face as they gear up to repair the 2015 aluminum-body F-150 pickup, arriving late this year. Collision shops need either a curtain or wall to separate their aluminum body work from their steel body work. When aluminum dust ends up on a steel body part, a reaction called galvanic corrosion can produce an effect similar to rust over time. There is even a small risk of fire if aluminum dust comes in contact with a spark. Ford says floor-to-ceiling curtains, ventilation syste...

Dust: Hidden Hazard Lurks - From Chemical Processing Dust: Hidden Hazard Lurks Facility finds danger from accumulated dust and effectively addresses it By Cyrus Fisher, Eli Lilly and Company Jul 14, 2014 Combustible dust can pose a hidden hazard when accumulation occurs in unseen locations such as in mechanical spaces, above false ceiling, ventilation systems and dust collection systems. Such hazards may be particularly well hidden in certain pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities where use of clean rooms with surrounding mechanical areas are common and the scale of the equipment and facility is relatively modest. Even small quantities of combustible dust may result in a dust cloud flash fire or an explosion capable of significant damage in a plant environment. Although events of this magnitude may not make headline news, the potential impact on an individual present during a flash fire could be life changing. ACCUMULATED DUS...

"the design and installation of the new dust collection system was done so poorly that it overheated within a few days of being activated, ignited spontaneously and caused an explosion that then released a fireball on seven workers." The Record: Worker safety January 18, 2015    Last updated: Sunday, January 18, 2015, 1:21 AM The Record A US Ink worker being treated by an EMT after the explosion in 2012. A FEDERAL investigation found that a series of mistakes led to a dangerous fire at an East Rutherford ink factory involving combustible dust in 2012. New Jersey needs stronger regulations to avoid potential disasters in the future. The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, an independent federal agency that looks at industrial chemical accidents and makes recommendations to governing bodies, released a report Thursday detailing the problems at the US Ink facility. According to the report, the design and installation of the new du...

From U.S. Chemical Safety Board CSB Names Poor Design and Failure to Test Dust Collection System Among Causes of U.S. Ink New Jersey Flash Fire that Burned Seven Workers in 2012; OSHA Again Urged to Issue New Combustible Dust Regulations   East Rutherford, New Jersey, January 15, 2015—The flash fire that burned seven workers, one seriously, at a U.S. Ink plant in New Jersey in 2012 resulted from the accumulation of combustible dust inside a poorly designed dust collection system that had been put into operation only four days before the accident, an investigation by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has found. In a report released today and scheduled to be presented for board consideration at a CSB public meeting in East Rutherford this evening, the investigation team concludes that the system was so flawed it only took a day to accumulate enough combustible dust and hydrocarbons in the duct work to overheat, ignite spontaneously, cause an explosion in the ...