WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2014
Combustible dust, a common source of fatal explosions and fast-burning fires in a variety of industries, has once again been moved to the regulatory back burner.
The latest Unified Regulatory Agenda for Fall 2014 has moved the long-delayed proposal by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to the category of "Long-Term Actions"—an indefinite delay.
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The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) identified 281 combustible-dust incidents between 1980 and 2005. |
Calls for a dust standard have come for years from a variety of safety experts, including the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, an independent federal agency that has investigated scores of deadly dust explosions.
What is Combustible
A wide variety of materials, even those that do not burn in larger pieces, can be explosible in dust form. The list includes candy, sugar, spice, starch, flour, feed, grain, tobacco, plastics, wood, paper, pulp, rubber, furniture, textiles, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, dyes, coal, metals and fossil fuel power generation.
"The force from such an explosion can cause employee deaths, injuries, and destruction of entire buildings," OSHA notes.
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), which has pressed for a combustible-dust rule for years, identified 281 combustible-dust incidents between 1980 and 2005.
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In July 2014, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board renewed its call for a dust rule with the video Combustible Dust: Solutions Delayed. The video focuses on an Alabama dust explosion that killed three workers in 2010. |
The deadliest occurred in 2008 when 14 workers were killed in a sugar-dust explosion in Georgia. In 2011, five workers died in a metal powder plant in Galltin, TN.
75 Killed
In August, 75 people were killed and 185 injured in a single dust explosion at a metal products plant in China—a disaster that led CSB chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso to renew his appeal for a dust rule via The New York Times.
"Tiny metal particles and metal dust are byproducts of the manufacturing process, and a cloud of them requires only a spark to explode—which, in turn, can loft more dust and cause more explosions," Moure-Eraso wrote in an opinion piece.
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Dust explosions often ignite fast-burning fires that can set off additional explosions. |
"Unfortunately, there is no reason to believe that accidents with high numbers of fatalities aren’t possible here, too.
Agendas and Plans
A dust rule for general industry has been in the works for years. OSHA released an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in October 2009, four years after issuing a Safety and Health Information Bulletin that detailed the catastrophic potential for dust explosions.
The rule also followed a major 2006 report by the CSB on combustible dust dangers.
Six stakeholder meetings followed, including one in Washington, D.C., in 2009, and two in Atlanta, GA, and Chicago in 2010.
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A dust explosion and blaze at a metal-product plant killed three workers in 2010. |
In May 2011, a one-day Expert Forum was convened and later released a Summary Report of its findings.
'Tough Choices'
But a proposed rule was never written and, just before Thanksgiving, when the White House released its latest regulatory agenda, combustible dust wasn't there.
Also moved to the "Long-Term" list were proposals on Injury and Illness Prevention, an update to the Hazard Communication Standard and several other items.
“A rule on combustible dust remains a concern, and we continue to work on it, but we moved that effort into our long-term plan while we continue our enforcement efforts,” the spokesman said in a statement to several news media.
Several other rules will be advancing in the year ahead, OSHA says. They include additional action on crystalline silica, beryllium, confined space, person fall protection systems, tracking of workplace injuries and illnesses, and shipyard fall protection.
| Selected OSHA Rule List - Fall 2014 | ||
| Rulemaking Stage | Title | RIN |
| Prerule | Chemical Management and Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs) | 1218-AC74 |
| Prerule | Shipyard Fall Protection--Scaffolds, Ladders and Other Working Surfaces | 1218-AC85 |
| Proposed Rule | Occupational Exposure to Crystalline Silica | 1218-AB70 |
| Proposed Rule | Occupational Exposure to Beryllium | 1218-AB76 |
| Proposed Rule | Quantitative Fit Testing Protocol: Amendment to the Final Rule on Respiratory Protection | 1218-AC94 |
| Final Rule | Confined Spaces in Construction | 1218-AB47 |
| Final Rule | Walking Working Surfaces and Personal Fall Protection Systems | 1218-AB80 |
| Final Rule | Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses | 1218-AC49 |
| www.reginfo.gov | ||
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The full Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions is available here.   |
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Tagged categories: Combustible Dust; Confined space; Fall protection; Health & Safety; Health and safety; OSHA; Regulations; Respiratory Protection Standard; Silica; U.S. Chemical Safety Board
