FAI offers comprehensive services for characterizing, preventing and mitigating fires and explosions due to combustible dust. Some of our recent agricultural industry services include:
Testing Support
- Develop a cost effective test strategy to characterize material handled at a grain handling facility
- Perform dust explosion testing to determine moisture content, particle size, explosion severity, sensitivity to ignition and minimum explosion concentration
Hazard Assessment
- Conduct an on-site dust hazard assessment based on applicable National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards
Risk Assessment
- Identify and prioritize high risk situations and worked with the customer to develop appropriate and cost effective protection strategies
Safety Program Improvement
- Recommend improvements to existing programs for housekeeping, electrical area classification, management of change (MOC), preventative maintenance and training
Some examples of grain dust explosions in the US include:
- Inland Grain Terminal, St. Joseph, MO, April 1980
-Killed 1 person
-Injured 4
-$ 2 M
-Electric arc from damaged level indicator in one of the silos. Explosion traveled through head house to other silos.
- River Grain Terminal, St. Paul, MN, June 1980
-No fatalities
-13 injured
-$300K
-Electrician working on live electrical while loading operations were taking place
-Explosion traveled along tunnel to head house and then to bucket elevators and on into other tunnels
- Train-Loading Country Grain Terminal, Fonda, IA, July 1980
-No fatalities or injuries
-$ 30 K
-Electrical welding on a bucket elevator. Hot work as ignition source. Traveled to other bucket elevators.
- Large Export Grain Silo Plant, Corpus Christi, TX, April 1981
-9 killed
-30 injured
-$30 M
-Smoldering lumps of grain entering bucket elevator.
-Propagated to other elevators – head house – tunnels – silos and conveyers
- OSHA 29CFR 1910.272 in 1987
Related Articles:
NFPA's Derek Duval talks about dust explosion mitigation in NFPA 61 and NFPA 654
