Industrial Fire Prevention

From Risk Factors blog and WestField Insurance, here is a good overview of the current state of the OSHA Combustible Dust Standard, with related links. February 16, 2011 Risk Factors: Combustible Dust Standards Update Background/History Combustible dust has become a much more visible hazard in the past few years as the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) in 2008 communicated that they were proposing a new standard on combustible dust . They also set in play a new directive for their staff to step up their inspections of plants that produce combustible dust, and began forcing companies to control the risk of explosion/fire (and related health concerns) through the execution of the general duty clause using best practice industry consensus standards (mostly National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards). The concern was that in the past couple decades, multiple industries experienced dust explosions that resulted in the loss of life/injuries and m...

Here is a good article By DeAnna Stephens from Pallet Enterprise,  featuring commentary by Bob Moore, chairman and CEO of   Intelligent Global Pooling Systems (iGPS ), and Kurt Ruchala,  principal engineer at FirePro.   This article outlines some basic and simple solutions when it comes to  protecting your plant, production processes, and personnel from fires  and explosions, in any industry. Additionally, I would add to protect your dust collection systems with   spark detection and extinguishing systems, as well as sprinkler or deluge  systems at the minimum. Additionally consider explosion venting, isolation  or suppression systems as needed, and as referenced by NFPA,  OSHA and FM Global. Plant Fire Safety Checklist   (modified from the article for general use) Are combustible dust, waste and residues kept cleaned up and removed? Are all brush and weeds kept cleared from around buildings? Do all emp...