CSB Safety Video Highlights Hazards of Combustible Dust Accumulation
August 12, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released a safety video depicting how accumulations of combustible dust at worksites can cause devastating explosions that kill and maim workers, shut down plants and harm local economies.
Combustible Dust: An Insidious Hazard depicts through computer animations three major dust explosion accidents investigated by the CSB: West Pharmaceutical Services in Kinston, N.C.; CTA Acoustics in Corbin, Ky.; and Hayes Lemmerz International in Huntington, Ind.
For each accident, animations show how explosive dust accumulated over years on plant equipment, pipes, floors, ducts, dust collectors and other areas, creating conditions ideal to set off a primary explosion, which lofts accumulated dust, leading to deadlier secondary explosions.
News footage and still photographs depict damage caused by these explosions and other accidents, including last year’s incident which killed 14 workers at the Imperial Sugar Co. in Port Wentworth, Ga.
The video points out that dust accumulations – and resulting secondary dust explosions – can be readily prevented. The CSB pointed out that use of National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards can prevent such accidents.
Laboratory footage in the video depicts how easily combustible dust ignites, as a small dust sample gathered by investigators in the rubble of a dust explosion site is lofted over a flame and creates an instant fireball.
CSB Chairman John Bresland called for education, comprehensive combustible dust regulation and enforcement to prevent dust explosions.
The video is available on the CSB web site
Source: U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB).