Thursday, April 17, 2014

Combustible Dust Compliance: Avoiding Common Pitfalls

It takes ongoing vigilance and management of change to identify conditions in your plant that might cause a potential safety problem. Combustible dust explosions are a risk in many areas of an industrial plant, and one of the likeliest locations for an explosion is in the plant’s dust collection system. To minimize the chance of an explosion, the NFPA sets standards to protect industrial facilities, and OSHA is tasked with enforcing these standards. A range of problems can contribute to explosion risk, but some common denominators exist. Some of these common denominators include: Insistence on Maintaining the Status Quo, Housekeeping Problems, or simply Misunderstanding Risks Involved with ‘Open’ Style Dust Collectors.  But, it only takes one of these to add up to disaster.
A staged explosion is used to test a dust collector’s ability
to withstand a combustible dust event.
Take a few moments to learn more about the frequently encountered shortfalls to combustible dust compliance and how you avoid them by reading the full article here.