Anniversary of the Imperial Sugar factory dust explosion-CSB releases a safety video message
On Feb 4th, 2009, on the first anniversary of the dust explosion that took place at the Imperial Sugar factory, the US Chemical Safety Board released a video message. In the video (see below) the CSB chairman John Bresland asks federal regulators and businesses to increase efforts at preventing combustible dust fires and explosions.
For those who remember, the incident was one of the worst dust explosions ever, with 14 fatalities.
Just a few days ago, a coal dust explosion rocked the Oak Creek We Energies power plant. It took place in a silo and injured 6 contract workers. Fortunately there were no fatalities. One of the workers described a loud explosion and a ball of fire came rolling down at them inside the 65 foot high silo, making them scramble to safety, reports the Journal Sentinel of Milwaukee.
What is the cause of so many dust explosions? The CSB completed a major study of such combustible dust hazards and has urged the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to develop a comprehensive regulatory standard designed to prevent dust explosions. OSHA has not issued a standard but has developed a program to increase enforcement of existing regulatory provisions.
One of the causes of these dust explosions is a possible electrical ignition source, due to using non-dust ignitionproof motors, switches and other non-protected electrical and instrument equipment in hazardous areas. Most industry people think of hazardous areas as those that contain flammable solvents and vapors, but fail to remember that hazardous areas also cover dust prone areas. These include grain silos, coal processing and storage plants and yes, even sugar factories. (Under the North American codes, these are classified as Class II hazardous areas and under the IEC codes, these areas are classified as Zone 21 and Zone 22)
Once a dust explosion takes place, it causes severe damage and the only way to safeguard lives and machinery, is by prevention. Use of explosion protected equipment that is certified for use in dust hazardous areas is a must.
(You can learn more about hazardous areas and dust explosion protection in Abhisam Software’s e-learning program on Hazardous Area Instrumentation).
Comments are welcome, as usual.
Get Salmonella free with peanuts! Safety inspectors blamed
By now, all of you must have read about the salmonella outbreak, at Peanut Corporation of America’s plants. The NY times reports that, the company now says that its plant was inspected by “private” food safety inspectors regularly who gave them “an overall superior rating”. Some other inspectors apparently gave the plants ‘meets or exceeds audit expectations (Acceptable-Excellent)” ratings.
The NY times report further says that Federal officials have begun a criminal inquiry of the peanut company after learning that it knowingly shipped products that had tested positive for salmonella. The outbreak has caused more than 500 illnesses and eight deaths. More than 1,000 products have been recalled, including pet food, ice cream and brownies.
Wow! Is this not eerily similar to all the A++ and AA++ ratings, given by the ratings agencies to the junk financial instruments, floated and traded by various banks at the heart of the financial crisis? Taking a wider worldview of the situation, it is now apparent that self-regulation cannot be the answer. This is equally applicable to financial institutions or to industrial/food/aviation companies. Private audits, inspections and investigations are fine, BUT they have to be complemented by government agencies and inspectors, else, the consumer will get shafted. It does not matter, whether you are a consumer of financial instruments, peanut butter or anything else. You as a consumer (and voter), should insist that the apparently cozy relationships between these perpetrators and inspectors, should come under the harsh glare of the government.
It is high time that consumers upped the ante-else be prepared to lose your savings, get sick or be exposed to other as yet unknown hazards. Wake up!
Another point-until now, it was always though that only those faraway plants in China or other countries ship these defective/toxic/dangerous products (remember the melamine, toys and other scandals). Plants in the US of A were supposed to be better and safer. What now? Nothing seems so sacred or obvious anymore.
Either consumers should band together and pressurize their legislators to implement stricter norms for government supervised inspections, or they should themselves insist on inspections by say, consumer associations.
It is the only way.
Dangers of Nitrogen!
We in the industry, generally are led to believe that Nitrogen, an inert gas, is by association with the word inert , also “safe”. This information resides somewhere deep inside of our subconscious mind, where we store a database of things that are “safe” and “dangerous” . Thus if anybody says “Hydrogen”, immediately the subconscious light bulb (alarm?) goes off and we carefully listen, work or design whatever it is that we are working on, which is related to Hydrogen.
In the same way, if somebody says “Nitrogen”, we immediately associate it with safety purging systems, tank blanketing systems, inertness and generally the subconscious tells us “Oh, its only Nitrogen. Nothing to worry about!” and we drop our guard while listening, working or designing or whatever it is that we are doing with respect to Nitrogen. We are in other words, lulled into a false sense of security.
However, we should now drill into our subconscious mind ( and also into the heads of our colleagues who handle Nitrogen), that Nitrogen can be very very deadly. It can act as an asphyxiant and choke a person to death in less than 40 seconds! When the US Chemical Safety Board started investigating accidents involving Nitrogen, they found that 85 nitrogen asphyxiation incidents occurred in the workplace between 1992 and 2002 . In these incidents 80 people were killed and 50 were injured. There is a very informative bulletin at the CSB website on this issue, please download it and print it out, then stick it on your Safety notice board/bulletin board. It can be a lifesaver for somebody.
Nitrogen tends to displace Oxygen from the air, whenever it comes in contact with it. Thus if a continuos flow of Nitrogen is released into air, the Oxygen level in the air depletes very fast and can choke a person who is breathing this Nitrogen rich air. Thus a worker who is carrying out a vessel inspection in a typical petrochemical plant (where the vessel most likely was purged with Nitrogen to rid it of explosive vapors), or somebody who is even standing near an open manhole of a vessel that has Nitrogen purging on, is at risk. Don’t believe me? Read the incidents mentioned in the CSB document above and you will.
It is always better to equip workers with Gas Monitors that detect the level of Oxygen and sound out an alarm, when the level drops below the normal level of 20.8%. It does not cost much and can save many lives. However the main reason is not the lack of instruments and devices, it is the subconscious alarm in the head that has to go off at the mention of the word “Nitrogen”.
Comments are always welcome, as usual!
BTW, if you have to sometimes work in, or are responsible for workers who have to work in confined spaces, you will find the training course below very useful.
