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OSHA recently released new standards for combustible dust safety.  The standards can be found at www.osha.gove/dsg/combustibledust/index.heml.

 

“Fires and explosions resulting from combustible dust can pose a significant danger in the workplace,” according to Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Edwin G. Foulke Jr. “This new safety and health topics page is part of a long-term, ongoing program in OSHA to address these hazards and assure safe and healthful working conditions.

 

The standards are partly in response to a deadly explosion at a Georgia sugar refinery. Four people died in the blast near Savannah in February.

 

Accidents like these occur when certain combustible substances are dispersed in the air in tiny, dust-like particles. The dust can become explosive, even when the original material is at low risk to explode. The resulting blast resembles a bomb. Substances that may produce highly explosive dust include candy, sugar, spices, starch, flour, animal feed and grain. In addition, tobacco, wood, coal, plastics, paper, pulp, rubber, furniture, textiles, pesticides, dyes and pharmaceuticals. 

 

Metals can also produce combustible dust. These include aluminum, iron, chromium, magnesium and zinc.

 

Officials with OSHA warn that rubber and fossil fuels – highly flammable themselves – can also produce combustible dust.

 

While the standards for controlling combustible dust are not new, OSHA is stepping up safety inspections and enforcement after the Georgia refinery blast. Under OSHA regulations, employers must address and control combustible dust. This includes establishing an emergency action plan to respond to an explosion or fire, including communications between workers and with emergency responders – an item that was reportedly a problem in the Georgia incident.  The OSHA standards also require employers to take steps to minimize combustible dust in manufacturing and transportation through housekeeping, ventilation and design, and to designate hazardous locations where the dust may accumulate.

 

OSHA hopes that the National Emphasis Program on Combustible Dust will help employers and workers to under the hazards involved in this commonplace substance. The program will provide information on compliance with current regulations, collection of dust for analysis, and methods to reduce or eliminate the dust.

 

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1. Posted by: Labor Law Center Blog » Blog Archive » New Dust Regulations and $9 Million Fines

   [...] addition to releasing new regulations on combustible dust for many industries, OSHA just levied one of the largest worker safety fines in history, against a sugar refinery for [...]