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n the chemical process industries (CPI), dust can present an issue

far more menacing than a housekeeping nuisance. Combustible
dust is in fact, much too often listed as a cause of serious, and
even fatal accidents.

Incidents
In January of this year, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB; Washington, D.C., www.csb.gov) issued its report on the U.S. Ink plant
flash fire that burned seven workers. This incident, which occurred
in October 2012 in East Rutherford, N.J., was found to have resulted
from the accumulation of combustible dust inside a dust-collection
system that had been put into operation four days prior to the accident. One of the key findings in the report is that while the dustcollection system was designed for dust collection, it was modified to
include a housekeeping function, which caused insufficient flowrates.
The CSB report notes that the volume of air flow and the air velocity
were below industry recommendations.
In 2006, the CSB issued a comprehensive report on combustible
dust hazards that was based on investigations of three major industrial explosions that occurred in the U.S. in 2003 alone. The three
incidents, in North Carolina, Kentucky and Indiana, cost 14 lives and
numerous injuries. In that 2006 study, the CSB identified 281 combustible-dust incidents that occurred in the previous 25 years and
claimed 119 lives with over 700 injuries. Since 2006, the CSB documented 50 combustible-dust incidents that resulted in 29 fatalities
and 161 injuries. These include the 2008 Imperial Sugar disaster near
Savannah, Ga., and three incidents over a six-month period in 2011
at a powdered-metal plant in Gallatin, Tenn.

Standards and regulations

What is striking in the reports about dust explosions is that at least in
some cases, known engineering controls may have been preventative. In its 2006 investigation report Combustible Dust Hazard Study,
the CSB recommended that the Occupational Safety and Health
Admin. (OSHA; Washington, D.C.; www.osha.gov) issue a standard
to prevent combustible-dust fires and explosions based on standards
already available from the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA;
Quincy, Mass.; www.nfpa.org). The CSB reiterates this recommendation in numerous subsequent reports including its most recent one
issued in January. While standards exist, they are voluntary and not
enforced through federal regulations. In 2013, the CSB designated a
comprehensive general industry standard for combustible dust as its
first Most Wanted Chemical Safety Improvement.

ALISON JOHNS

ED PINEDO
Executive Vice President
& Chief Financial Officer

A most wanted safety improvement

GERALD STASKO
Vice President/Corporate Controller

ROBERT PACIOREK
Senior Vice President,
Chief Information Officer
4 Choke Cherry Road, Second Floor
Rockville, MD 20850
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CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Resources
In the meantime, a wealth of information about combustible dust
is available. The CSB website contains many lessons learned from
incident investigations in both report and video
format. The NFPA offers a number of relevant
standards. OSHA offers various resources, including information on its Combustible Dust National
Emphasis Program (NEP). And numerous articles,
such as the Feature Report in this issue (Prevent
Combustible Dust Explosions With Nitrogen Inerting, p. 64) help to share knowledge and insight into

this important issue.

Dorothy Lozowski, Editor in Chief

WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM

MARCH 2015