It Is Needed to Control Combustible Dusts Hazard Research Paper

It Is Needed to Control Combustible Dusts Hazard - Research Paper Example The explosions develop and then give safety measures to be taken in preventing such occurrences. The paper will also discuss some debatable issues regarding combustible dusts. The paper will then conclude with an overview of the recommendations needed to control combustible dusts hazard. Combustible dusts comprise of fine particles that cause an explosion hazard when suspended in the air and certain conditions (OSHA, 2009). A hazardous product has the capability of being ignited (Willy, 1995). Dust explosions cause tragic loss of life, serious bodily harm and devastating destruction of property. The potential for dust explosions remains unknown to most workers. This calls for the evaluation of potential chemical hazards, and the communication of hazard information to workers. According to OSHA (2009), materials that have the capability of forming combustible dust include wood, paper, sugar, metals such as aluminum & magnesium, coal, dried blood, soap, biosolids, plastics and certain textiles. They are found in a variety of industries and workplaces. Combustible dust can build up within process equipment and/or escape from process equipment settling on surfaces in the general working environment (L & I, 2009). These accumulations are extremely explosive especially when dispersed in the air in the presence of ignition sources like standard electrical switches. The U.S Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CBS) identified two hundred and eighty of combustible dust incidences between 1980 and 2005 that led to the death of one hundred and nineteen workers, injured seven hundred and eighteen, and extensively damaged numerous industrial facilities (OSHA, 2009). Massachusetts suffered a similar fate in February 1999, when the deadly fire broke in a foundry investigation in the incidence revealed that a fire stemmed from a shell molding machine and then extended in the ventilation of the system ducts by feeding on  heavy deposits of phenol formaldehyde dusts (OSHA, 2009).