Video - Inferno: Dust Explosion at Imperial Sugar

This month is the four year anniversary of the deadly combustible dust explosion at Imperial Sugar Refinery in Georgia. We wanted to depart from our dust collection series this week to remember the 14 employees that were fatally burned. This explosion was preventable and sadly there have been many more deadly combustible dust explosions elsewhere since.

This video is part of a safety video series put out by the CSB (U.S. Chemical and Safety Board). The video report contains footage, animations, and interviews surrounding that investigation and details of how the explosions happened.

Article: Understanding Your Dust - Six Steps to Better Dust Collection

I would like to continue our dust collection journey by exploring past the dust identification and testing stages. An article by dust collection experts Lee Morgan and Mike Walters will help take the mystery out of the dust collector choosing process, by explaining how to analyze your application needs and dust characteristics.

The six sections will detail the steps in the decision making process. Let's face it, dust collection decisions are not easy and can be confusing with all the filter media choices, air flow requirements, regulations, preventive maintenance. By educating yourself, you will make the best dust collector choice for your application, thus avoiding unwanted and unnecessary issues down the road.

You can read the full article here. Understanding Your Dust - Six Steps to Better Dust Collection

Article: What's The Best Type Of Dust Collector Filter For Applications Involving Sticky Dusts?

This week I would like to get away from combustible dust and address a different and unique application involving sticky dusts. This is not a common issue but it comes up from time to time and the solution can be hard to find. When moisture is combined with dust the outcome can produce many types of issues for a dust collector.

A recent article by John Dauber in Powder and Bulk Engineering PBE-News addresses testing, types of filter media, coatings, and external devices involved in the solution process.

You can read the full article here.

Article: How Well Do You Know Your Dust?

In my last post we explored an OSHA bulletin that highlighted the hazards associated with combustible dust. This week I would like to expand on how to determine the explosibility and physical properties of the actual dust. It is one thing to collect the dust but what exactly are you collecting?

While knowing your dust has always been good practice, it is rapidly becoming a necessity in today's regulatory climate. OSHA has identified and contacted 30,000 companies considered to be at risk of explosion from combustible dusts. The importance of dust testing has changed and the implications have become even more significant over the past few years.

Full article can be read here: How Well Do You Know Your Dust?