Industrial Fire Prevention

*A good article on combustible dust from PalletEnterprise.com , and Jary Winstead* Safety Check: Wood Dust Rules Need to Be on Your Radar Screen Wood Dust: Safety expert, Jary Winstead explores specific policies and considerations for pallet lumber and pallet facilities related to wood dust. From respiratory hazards to combustible dust issues, these insights can help you ensure safety and compliance. By Jary Winstead Date Posted: 6/5/2019 Wood Dust Safety expert explores specific policies and considerations for pallet lumber and pallet facilities related to wood dust. These insights can help you ensure safety and compliance. The hazards of dust accumulation in the workplace have been a safety and health concern for many years. There have been many production facility explosions and fires that were directly related to dust accumulation, causing serious injuries and loss of life, not to mention property losses. With recent citations from the Occupational Safety and Hea...

Another great article by Chris Giusto with Hallam-ICS I’ve Completed My DHA–Now What? April 9, 2019 Once your DHA is complete, you will have a list of hazards that require implementing additional protective measures.  As discussed in my last blog, 7 Steps to Complete a Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA) ,  important steps must be taken after this list is generated, or the DHA will be for naught. I touched on these as steps 5 through 7 in that article, and here I will explore them in more detail. Blogs posts within this series: Combustible Dust Fundamentals and NFPA 652 What is a Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA)? A Practical Guide to 5 Important Properties of Combustible Dust 7 Steps to Complete a Dust Hazard Analysis I've Completed My DHA, Now What? Prioritize Hazards With your processes and facility evaluated, you can then prioritize the ha...

A great article by Chris Giusto at Hallam-ICS 7 Steps to Complete a Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA) April 9, 2019 This blog outlines the process of completing a Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA) as required by NFPA 652.  The term DHA is often used interchangeably with the “analysis” portion of the processes (Step 4 below), but a complete DHA process involves additional steps before and after the analysis. Blogs posts within this series: Combustible Dust Fundamentals and NFPA 652 What is a Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA)? A Practical Guide to 5 Important Properties of Combustible Dust 7 Steps to Complete a Dust Hazard Analysis I've Completed My DHA, Now What? It is critical to recognize that just completing the analysis does not make your facility any safer without appropriate follow up actions (Steps 5 through 7 below).  My next blog, “I’ve Completed My ...

A great article by Chris Giusto at Hallam-ICS A Practical Guide to 5 Important Properties of Combustible Dusts April 9, 2019 In a previous blog, Combustible Dust Fundamentals and NFPA 652 , I mentioned having your dust tested to determine important properties that are critical for protecting your personnel and facility. Blogs posts within this series: Combustible Dust Fundamentals and NFPA 652 What is a Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA)? A Practical Guide to 5 Important Properties of Combustible Dust 7 Steps to Complete a Dust Hazard Analysis I've Completed My DHA, Now What? These properties are used in calculations for designing and sizing protective devices like vent panels and isolation valves.  They are also important to understand during your Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA) to properly identify hazards.  (You can learn more about DHAs in my pre...

A great article by Chris Giusto at Hallam-ICS What is a Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA)? April 9, 2019 In my last blog I discussed Combustible Dust Fundamentals and NFPA 652 and explained some of the background as to why NFPA 652 requires a Dust Hazard Analysis. Blogs posts within this series: Combustible Dust Fundamentals and NFPA 652 What is a Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA)? A Practical Guide to 5 Important Properties of Combustible Dust 7 Steps to Complete a Dust Hazard Analysis I've Completed My DHA, Now What? This blog will explain what a DHA is, and answer some other common questions about them. What is a DHA? A Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA) is a systematic review of the processes and areas of your facility where combustible particulate solids are present.  (Figure B.4.5 below from NFPA 652 shows how an example process is broken down into individ...

A great article by Chris Giusto at Hallam-ICS Combustible Dust Fundamentals & NFPA 652 April 9, 2019 With the compliance deadline for completing a Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA) less than two years away, and existing requirements already in place, it is a good time to revisit the “new” NFPA 652 Standard on the Fundamentals of Combustible Dust. Blogs posts within this series: Combustible Dust Fundamentals and NFPA 652 What is a Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA)? A Practical Guide to 5 Important Properties of Combustible Dust 7 Steps to Complete a Dust Hazard Analysis I've Completed My DHA, Now What? Approved as an American National Standard on September 7, 2015, this standard is “new” only relatively speaking.  While many in the combustible dust safety community knew about it while it was still being developed, and were glad to see it implemented, t...

From out friends at OHS Online, and Vahid Ebedat Towards Compliance: NFPA 652 Standard on the Fundamentals of Combustible Dust If explosion preventive measures alone cannot reduce the risk of a dust cloud explosion to an acceptable level, then explosion protection measures must be considered. By Vahid Ebadat May 01, 2019 Explosible dust clouds can be expected at some point during any powder/dust handling, transfer, processing, dust collection, or packaging operation. Of course, if there is an ignition source present, a dust deflagration or explosion may occur. It is clearly essential that effective precautions are taken to control the risk and protect employees, contractors, the public, and the facility against the effects of fires and explosions. Over the past few decades, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has published a number of codes and standards to help industry with its efforts to assess and control dust fires and explosions. Although very...

From our friends at Fauske: 5 Things Every Plant Manager Needs to Know About Combustible Dusts Posted by Zachary Hachmeister on 05.08.19 By Zachary Hachmeister, Chief Operating Officer, Fauske & Associates, LLC Combustible Dust is Fuel This may sound obvious, but it’s really important. You need to think of dust deposits on surfaces or dust leakage from equipment as uncontrolled fuel in your facility. This, of course, is only true for dusts that are combustible. The reason this is so important is that it will help shift you and your employees’ perspective on dust from a nuisance that reflects a lack of cleanliness to a potential hazard that is putting you, your co-workers, and your assets at risk. (This slight shift in perspective can translate to an increased awareness of combustible dust hazards and by doi...