Industrial Fire Prevention

From our friends at: Donaldson Overview Help Prevent and Protect Against Combustible Dust In manufacturing facilities that generate or handle dust, it’s an important responsibility to manage combustion risks. When a combustible dust encounters an ignition source, there is the potential for a fire or explosion. It’s essential to have a comprehensive plan to manage and mitigate that potential risk. Many operations are subject to the requirements of NFPA Standard 652: Fundamentals of Combustible Dust, which has a dust hazard analysis (DHA) requirement due by September 7, 2020. A well-designed, maintained, and operated dust collection system is an integral part of your effort to comply with this and other standards and regulations. Donaldson can assist you in developing a strategy for the specific needs of your facility.   Strategy Here are some basic steps to get started on a mitigation plan: 1. Know your standards and codes.  Research the local, state, and federal mand...

From our friends at: Donaldson Facebook Twitter n Email Food and agricultural processors have led the manufacturing industry in combustible dust risk mitigation. Now that the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has published new editions of its standards on the risks of combustible dust, it’s a good time to review, and possibly revise your mitigation strategies. Regulatory Background Although NFPA standards are not part of federal law, they are considered industry best practices. Many municipalities adopt them in their code and OSHA inspectors sometimes reference them under the General Duty clause when citing unsafe work conditions. In food and agricultural processing, the most relevant standard is  NFPA 61, Standard for the Prevention of Fires and Dust Explosions in Agricultural and Food Processing Facilities . The latest edition of NFPA 61 requires that any existing food or agricultural processing facility with combustible or explosible dust must complete a dust hazard an...

From: Stone House Safety Flour Packaging Explosion: The Normalization of Risk  24 SEPTEMBER Flour Packaging Explosion: The Normalization of Risk In this article, we would like to discuss the concept of  ‘normalization of risk’  and then go on to illustrate the concept by looking at a real combustible dust explosion story from Europe:   Normalization of risk: The gradual process through which risky/dangerous practices or conditions become acceptable over time Getting used to risky situations because we see them every day Unwittingly accepting unsafe situations because they have not caused an incident before; there has been a lack of “bad outcomes” Accepting some level of risk is a something that we all do; it’s normal! If we did not accept some risk, we would never drive a car, fly on a plane, or even buy a restaurant meal. But what we have to guard against is  over-normalization  of risk where consequences of ‘failure’ are big. A combustible dust explo...

From our friends at SonicAire: Four Ways to Manage Combustible Dust in Your Facility Whether you’re in woodworking, plastics, or another manufacturing/processing industry, combustible dust is almost a given. Today’s compliance standards require you to do something about it as well. If you let combustible dust buildup in hard-to-reach spaces, you’d better hope an OSHA inspector doesn’t show up. NFPA 652 and other industry-specific standards make it clear that it’s your responsibility to stay in compliance. Otherwise, fines will be coming your way. Standards do provide leniency in how you mitigate fugitive dust buildup in overhead and hard-to-reach spaces. The ideal solution for you may not make sense for someone else. Ultimately, you have to review the costs and risks associated and make the best decision possible. Here are four common ways facilities manage combustible dust: 1 – Capture Dust at the Source Depending upon your process an...

 From Our Friends at : The Regulatory Review   The Explosive Problem of Killer Dust Katherine McKeen Twitter   Facebook   LinkedIn   Email   Print   Font Size: A   A Despite ongoing fatalities, OSHA has no specific regulations in place for combustible dust hazards. Tweet Share Post Email Print Link Font Size: A   A Between 1980 and 2005, 281 combustible dust explosions  led  to the deaths of 119 industrial workers and injuring of 718 others. And in the years since, similar disasters have  caused  numerous additional fatalities; in 2008, a single sugar dust ignition  killed  14 workers in Georgia. Such tragedies may have been “readily preventable” if workplaces  adopted  certain engineering controls, ventilation systems, and training protocols. Yet the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has  retreated  from setting specific regulations for combustible dust hazards, citing...