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 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...

From our friends at: Fike  Dust Explosion Propagation: Myths and Realities by: Jérôme Taveau Originally published 2013 Demystifying Dust Explosion Propagation for an Overall Explosion Protection Strategy The unfortunate propensity of dust explosions to destroy entire facilities and claim lives has been reported in numerous past incidents. A recent illustration is the massive explosion that occurred on February 7th, 2008 at the Imperial Sugar Company in Port Wentworth (Georgia), where 14 people were killed and 36 people were injured. Powder handling processes are often comprised of interconnected enclosures and equipment. Flame and pressure resulting from a dust explosion can therefore propagate through piping, across galleries, and reach other pieces of equipment or enclosures, leading to extensive damage. While the ability of dust explosions to propagate has been widely recognized, some misconceptions lead to the false sense of security that explosion isolation is not required. In...