Bartlett Grain of Atchison, KS, was cited by OSHA for willful and serious safety violations in response to the October 2011 grain elevator explosion tragedy. The willful violations include allowing grain dust – which is nine times as explosive as coal dust – to accumulate, using compressed air to remove dust without first shutting down [...]

OSHA has proposed $231k in penalties for Gilster-Mary Lee Corp of Steeleville, IL, where 2 maintenance employees were seriously burned following an explosion within a dust collector while conducting welding operations.  The men were repairing a hole in the side of a metal trough containing a screw conveyor that was leaking granulated sugar within several [...]

Alabama Farmers Cooperative was cited for safety and health violations for exposing workers at its Decatur facility to combustible dust and other hazards.  Included in the violations was failure to reduce the accumulation of, and use approved electrical equipment in the presence of, combustible dust.  Employees were exposed to nuisance dust 1.6 times higher than [...]

This is the best technical article I have seen on combustible dust issues. The article lays out the standards which can be used in assessment and shows a breadth of knowledge usually lacking.  It does not list clothing as a part of the solution (which I believe it should be) but he has a firm [...]

AGrowStar, LLC, of Fort Valley, GA, was cited by OSHA for 20 serious and 2 other-than-serious violations, with proposed penalties of $74k.  Included was failure to develop and implement lockout/tagout procedures for energy sources, annual training for employees exposed to fire or explosion hazards, securing a permit prior to entering a confined space to perform [...]

Babine Forest Products’ sawmill exploded in a fireball, leveling the plant on the evening of January 20th.   The roof lifted off of the football field-sized building, then came down, crushing the sawmill.  Clothing was partially burned off, hard hats melted onto heads,  workers had burns to backs, arms, and legs, and others were blown out of [...]

OSHA proposed $72k fine to Milk Specialties Co. of Fond du Lac, WI, for failing to take appropriate precautions to protect workers from combustible dust explosions and fires. Click here to read the OSHA News Release dated 2/22/12.

Not enough information in this article but with previous citations on electrical guarding, combustible dust and carbon black, it could be combustible dust explosion or arc flash or both. Sad thing is flame resistant clothing would have likely prevented most of the burns in either case.  Clothing which meets NFPA 2112 or ASTM F1506 will [...]

CSB just released the Powerpoint of their study on Combustible Dust. CSB Combustible Dust Incident Study

Milk Specialties Co. (MSC) has refused to provide OSHA access to an internal report of an alleged combustible dust explosion that occurred in August,2011.  OSHA had a subpoena issued to help determine it employees were exposed to dust hazards.  The company contends that providing the report would violate attorney-client privilege Click here to read more about [...]