Dust finds its way into a surprising variety of industrial worksites, with ignitable or combustible dust endangering workers in all sorts of endeavors. Construction workers, for instance, in both Indiana and Illinois must deal with sawdust and silica.
Other major Indiana industries that may endanger workers with something so innocuous as dust include our local energy industry (coal, electricity, biofuel); manufacturing (automotive, steel); and mining industries. Illinois workers may also be exposed to dust hazards while they work in Illinois industries like manufacturing (aerospace, metal fabrication); agriculture (including biofuels); food processing; clean energy (batteries); and biotechnology.
Dust is a consequence of all sorts of industrial processes, where it can remain airborne or cover surfaces and become a serious safety risk. This is because many forms of industrial dust are flammable or explosive.
What is Combustible Dust?
The phrase “combustible dust” is an industrial term that describes all sorts of finely ground material found on industrial worksites. Workers at many of our different job sites need to be aware of dust dangers and how fast dust – even dust that has sat there dormant and inactive for years – can cause catastrophic injuries or death of one or more industrial workers on the job.
Any combustible material can burn rapidly when in a finely divided form. If such a dust is suspended in air in the right concentration, under certain conditions, it can become explosible. Even materials that do not burn in larger pieces (such as aluminum or iron), given the proper conditions, can be explosible in dust form.
The force from such an explosion can cause employee deaths, injuries, and destruction of entire buildings. For example, 3 workers were killed in a 2010 titanium dust explosion in West Virginia, and 14 workers were killed in a 2008 sugar dust explosion in Georgia. The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) identified 281 combustible dust incidents between 1980 and 2005 that led to the deaths of 119 workers, injured 718, and extensively damaged numerous industrial facilities.
A wide variety of materials that can be explosible in dust form exist in many industries. Examples of these materials include: food (e.g., candy, sugar, spice, starch, flour, feed), grain, tobacco, plastics, wood, paper, pulp, rubber, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, dyes, coal, metals (e.g., aluminum, chromium, iron, magnesium, and zinc). These materials are used in a wide range of industries and processes, such as agriculture, chemical manufacturing, pharmaceutical production, furniture, textiles, fossil fuel power generation, recycling operations, and metal working and processing which includes additive manufacturing and 3D printing.
Dust Fires, Dust Deflagrations, and Dust Explosions
Dust fires involve fires that are started by flammable dust. The dangers of combustible dust on any jobsite can be also divided into three distinct dangers: an explosion; a deflagration; or a detonation. While many may use these latter terms interchangeably, they describe three distinct incidents where people can be severely injured or killed.
Explosions are more deadly on a worksite than a dust fire. As an example, a shocking 83% of fatal bodily injuries in 2021 caused by combustible dust in the wood industry occurred due to dust explosions; comparatively, 17% of the fatalities were attributed to dust fires. Read, “2021 Combustible Dust Incident Report,” written by Chris Cloney and published in BioMass Magazine on May 25, 2022.
The National Fire Protection Association (“NFPA”), recognizing the explosion confusion in terminology, clarifies these three different worksite risks in this way:
- Explosions involve “…a sudden, rapid release of energy that produces potentially damaging pressures.” Explosions can happen in confined spaces or open areas. The amount of damage from an explosion will be contingent upon the pressure involved and the speed the energy is expended. Detonations and deflagrations are both forms of an explosion.
- Deflagrations are explosions where the flame speed is lower than the speed of sound. The damage from a deflagration will depend upon the type of dust (fuel) involved and the event area (degree of confinement). It is defined as “… [a]n explosion where the flame front travels through the air-fuel mixture slower than the speed of sound.”
- Detonations are explosions with a faster flame speed than a deflagration. Here, the flame speed is greater than the speed of sound. They are notoriously more deadly than deflagrations. NFPA defines detonations as “…[a]n explosion where the flame front travels through the air-fuel mixture faster than the speed of sound.”
Of importance, dust can be involved in explosions, deflagrations, or detonations. Dust deflagrations are a known risk, for instance, in any industry working with metal processing, such as Illinois and Indiana steel and aluminum processing plants and our local steel fabricators. There are special safety protocols developed to deal with this risk.
Deflagrations involving metal dusts occur on a regular basis with disastrous consequences in the process industries. Technological advances (electronic pressure detectors, high rate discharge containers) have resulted in more efficient active explosion protection systems. – Taveau, Jérôme, et al. “Suppression of metal dust deflagrations.” Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 36 (2015): 244-251.
Combustible Dust Work Accident Injuries
Workers in a combustible dust work accident can suffer serious or deadly injuries in the fire or explosion. Those who survive can face months or years of restorative surgeries and psychological counseling for the resulting trauma that comes with scarring, disfigurement, or disability.
Dust accident injuries can involve:
- Amputation
- Blindness
- Disfigurement, Scarring
- Internal Injuries and Internal Bleeding
- Paralysis, loss of use of limb
- Traumatic Brain Injury
- Death.
For more, read Known Causes of Industrial Fires: Duty to Keep Workers Safe from Burn Injuries and Burn Injuries from Accidents: Permanent Harm, Disability, or Death.
Legal Duties and Industrial Standards Designed to Protect Workers from Dust Dangers
There are federal safety regulations overseen by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) that create legal duties of safety and care for workers against the dangers of combustible dust accidents. For more, see What is the Employer’s General Duty Clause? and Workplace Housekeeping and Serious Accidents on the Job: Duty of Care.
There are also industrial codes and standards, well-known to employers and their insurance carriers, that further define dust safety procedures. While they are not laws themselves, they do support arguments that the failure to comply with them is evidence of negligence in the event of a serious or fatal combustible dust work accident.
OSHA Regulations
Both the General Duty Clause as well as specific safety regulations apply to combustible dust in the industrial workplace. These are distinct to the particular industry, such as 1910 Subpart N (Materials Handling and Storage) and its 1910.176 and 1910.178.
- For more, read OSHA’s online overview discussing Combustible Dust Regulations. Also read: Worker Rights Under Federal Law: OSHA Protections and Employer Violations.
NFPA Safety Standards and Codes
A new, umbrella safety standard for combustible dust was introduced this year by the NFPA. This will be the new NFPA 660, entitled “Standard for Combustible Dusts,” to be effective in 2024 or 2025. It will replace the current six (6) distinct industrial safety standards released by NFPA. They are: NFPA 652; NFPA 61; NFPA 484; NFPA 654; NFPA 655; and NFPA 664.
- For details, read “NFPA 660: One combustible dust standard to rule them all,” published by ISHN on February 8, 2023; and “A Century of Dust,” written by Scott Sutherland and published by the NFPA Journal on March 7, 2023.
Employers and others with possession, custody, and control of the industrial worksite have the responsibility to do things like (1) knowing the types of dust on the site; (2) how it builds up in different places on the site; (3) possible ignition risks; (4) having safety procedures to remove the dust on a routine basis; (5) educating workers on the dangers of dust; (6) providing personal protective equipment as needed to workers against fire or explosion injuries; and (7) having routine inspections to make sure dust is being removed consistently and effectively from the site.
Work Accidents Involving Combustible Dust in Indiana or Illinois
Experts warn that combustible dust is often underestimated by employers and others with possession, custody, or control of an industrial worksite. Even safety experts are known to disregard the threats of dust at the workplace.
The danger of dust, meanwhile, is “…present in nearly every manufacturing and industrial processing facility across the globe — from aerospace and auto manufacturing to food processing and metalworking,” warns an international industrial vacuum company. Read, “Combustible Dust Incidents from 15 Industries,” published by NILFISK on January 31, 2018.
Importantly, this safety provider confirms that “combustible dust fires and explosions are 100% preventable through proper controls and housekeeping.”
For those that are injured or killed in a combustible dust fire or explosion, there are legal remedies under state and federal law that provide damages to the worker victim and their loved ones. Investigation into the accident may reveal that not only the employer but other third parties involved with the jobsite may have legal liability for what has happened.
For more, read:
- Who Can Be Held Liable for Construction Worker Accidents?
- Explosives and Fire: Workplace Explosion Accidents
- Wrongful Death Damages After Fatal Work Accidents in Illinois or Indiana
- Catastrophic Injuries in an Accident: Damages for the Loss of a Normal Life.
Dust can kill. Industrial workers in Indiana and Illinois need to know of this hazard and to be aware of dust dangers on their jobsite. Please be careful out there!
