OSHA Region IV Stirring it Up Over Combustible Dust
OSHA announced today that over the last 16 months, compliance officers from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have made 104 visits to Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama companies where employees may be exposed to potential combustible dust hazards.
The result has been 667 citations for workplace safety and health violations; an average of 6.4 citations per visit. OSHA states that 87 percent of these citations were categorized as willful, serious, repeat or failure to abate.
The visits are part of the agency’s ongoing National Emphasis Program (NEP) to reduce employees’ exposure to combustible dust hazards. Nationally, 3,662 violations have been identified during 813 inspections, an average of 4.5 citations per visit. Housekeeping, hazard communication, personal protective equipment, electrical and general duty clause violations are cited most frequently as a result of these inspections.“Any company that has combustible dust, or thinks that they may have combustible dust, needs to intensify housekeeping, review hot work processes, evaluate electrical equipment for possible Class II locations, prohibit smoking or flames in dust laden areas, ensure that relief venting on dust collection systems releases the dust to a safe location, and develop and/or review an emergency action plan,” said OSHA Regional Administrator Cindy Coe.
Dust fires and explosions can pose significant dangers in the workplace and can occur when five different factors are present. The five factors are oxygen, an ignition source (heat, an electrical spark or a spark from metal machinery), fuel (dust), dispersion of the dust and confinement of the dust. These five factors are referred to as the “Dust Explosion Pentagon.” If any one of these factors is removed or is missing, an explosion cannot occur.
Industries affected by the emphasis program include: agriculture, chemical, textile, forest products, furniture products, wastewater treatment, metal processing, paper processing, pharmaceutical and metal, paper and plastic recycling.
We encourage employers who have questions or need assistance with any combustible dust issue to contact us at (502) 240-6910 to discuss your needs.
June 19th, 2009 at 5:57 am
Thanks for the update Dwayne. I wonder about facilities that are not listed as a national industry (NAICS) in the OSHA Dust NEP that have been experiencing combustible dust related fires and explosions. For example, according to media reports, last year over 50% of ComDust incidents occurred at facilities not recognized in the OSHA Dust NEP. It’s frustrating to see so much attention on the Dust NEP when a majority of incidents are occurring at Non-NEP facilities.
Another aspect concerning OSHA Region IV inspections in regards to combustible dust is that 50% of the states in that region, North Carolina | South Carolina | Tennessee Kentucky, have there own State Occupational Safety and Health Plans. These states are not required to adopt the OSHA Dust NEP and most of them don’t throughout the nation. A large obstacle in this area is the funding for the very expensive combustible dust testing.
The NEP is a great start in addressing the complex subject of combustible dust hazards. But over the past three years it has been a dormant occupational safety guidance document instead of dynamic addressing current ongoing incidents throughout the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors.