Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Ways Of Avoiding Combustible Dust Explosions

By Douglas Stone


The phrase combustible powder explosions may be new to many people. You may wonder how is it possible for dust to explode. In 2012, the united states recoded 450 explosions from the year 1980. As unreal as they sound, these explosions have cause fatalities. It is best for plants to learn how to handle their dust. The article discusses prevention methods of combustible dust explosions.

The first step is to know whether or not there is combustible powder on site being produced by the manufacturing plant around. If you are not sure, you can go on and conduct the needed research. Learn all about it and how to deal with it. From there you can be able to bring in the needed equipment and the contractors required to clean it up. Do not just assume that all the dust is combustible.

It is important to train your employees. Before they start working at the plant inform about dirt explosions and where they are most likely to occur. Train them on what to do in case of an emergency and tell them the dangers of combustion dirt to keep them in the know. You may have the information printed out in case they need to refresh their knowledge.

Ensure that the plant is cleaned on a regular basis. After a days work, the dirt is bound to settle in plenty. One of the ways of preventing an explosion is by regularly cleaning out the powder. The powder will settle in hard to reach places like the ceiling and even the air vents. Make sure you have people cleaning it out because, where there is no powder, there is no explosion.

Come up with aa routine or a way of ensuring that the place was actually cleaned. It is not unheard of employees pretending to clean up and after a while, the disaster you were trying to avert hits you with the worst possible effects. Sets aside some managers or a group of employees to inspect and confirm that the place is powder free.

Make sure that the methods used to clean do not leave small dirt clouds. You do not want dirt spreading out through the air. This is literally adding fuel to the hypothetical fire. Make sure that the dust does not get saturated in the air. Especially near heat emitting places because that will just be tempting the fire.

The same way a house may have too many seats, a plant may have too many ignition sources. The best way to reduce the risk is to get rid of the ones that are not necessary. Since you cannot stop the production of powder, you need to improvise methods of keeping it away from the fire. Make sure the fire sources are cleaned more often than the other surfaces.

Most people get rid of powder through vacuuming which is very effective. However, the vacuum used in the plant and the one at home are different. If you use the one for the house on the plant, it may give out and spark. A small spark is all that is required for a damaging explosion.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment