Imperial Sugar Dust Explosion final draft report released

Last years explosion at Imperial Sugar Company’s Savannah, GA facility was horrendous, as it led to several fatalities and serious injuries of industrial workers. The US Chemical Safety Board investigated this accident and has now released the final investigation report. The US Chemical Safety Board, in its final draft report released on 24th Sep 2009 … Read more

Why is Acetylene part of Group IIC of IEC (Group A of NEC)

Ever wonder why Acetylene is classified under Group IIC of the IEC’s explosive material classification system (equivalent to Group A of the NEC material classification)? Why is it classified as much more explosive as compared to say, Methane? Rather than launch into the theory of explosivity and other such things, wouldn’t it be nice to … Read more

How to classify hazardous areas?

This is the question that many people ask themselves. There are so many standards and practices, so different from each other. You have the Class, Division & Group classification in North America and the Zone and Group system in Europe, Asia and Australia. The NEC also talks about Zones in Article 505 and there is … Read more