28/10/2015: Dust explosion: What you don’t know can hurt you

by Brad Carr, President of IES, USA 

First published in Milling and Grain, July 2015 

With combustible dust issues, ignorance is not bliss. The reverse is true: ignorance is deadly.

Mills are especially vulnerable, as recent history suggests. The aim of this article is to fill the knowledge gap at the foundational levels to managers and owners who can determine what is missing from their plan to mitigate the dangers of combustible dust. 

What don’t you know that can hurt you? 
To fulfill the purpose of this article, the full scope of specific things that should be on your ‘to do’ list for combustible dust are listed. Seven steps are outlined as below to help you see what categories of activities need to take place.
      

Step 1: first things first 
Safety starts by acknowledging that you have combustible dust. But not every company has to test their dust to determine the combustible characteristics of their dust if it is obvious, like flour dust, for example. It doesn’t matter what the Kst, Pmax, MEC, MIE, MIT, etc. is; whatever the industry, you know you have to keep the dust from accumulating.

I have found that most people test the composition of their dust after having being fined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). But they would not have had to do it if they had prevented the dust from accumulating in the first place. So whatever the composition of the dust, it must be eliminated because all fugitive dust can accumulate into a combustible cloud. The diagram shows the factors that can precipitate an explosion. This model identifies the five elements required for such an explosion:

1. Fuel - or the combustible dust itself
2. Oxygen - in the air
3. Ignition Source - heat from electrical equipment, smoking, bearings, static electricity, etc.
4. Dispersion - accumulated dust falling from overhead areas due to an initial explosion (deflagration)
5. Confinement - for example, the building itself.

This diagram is helpful in that it clarifies the possible cause, or combination of causes. The logic is that eliminating one or more of these elements would lower the risk of an explosion. So, let’s look at the real world and think about what you can really control or eliminate.
               
You can’t eliminate oxygen - you and your employees have to breathe. You can’t eliminate confinement - that’s where the work happens, and without that there is no product or business. And you can only eliminate dispersion as a variable by eliminating the combustible dust itself.

So that means that the only factors you can control are the fuel - the combustible dust, and the Ignition Source - the generation of extra heat from equipment that eventually degrades or breaks down without anyone maintaining it properly.

Let’s face it: equipment breaks down, and maintenance mistakes happen. It’s the inevitable factor of human behavior, which, by its very definition, is always flawed. We don’t live in a perfect world.

This process of elimination demonstrates that the most logical factor to wrestle with - and to manage effectively - is to control the accumulation of the combustible dust. This is exactly why the regulations spend so much time dealing with housekeeping issues; you simply must find a way to eliminate the accumulated fugitive dust or you risk your employees’ safety. But what regulations matter most to grain and feed industries? 

Read the full article in Milling and Grain HERE.            

 

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