Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 001 Hazard: CHEMICAL

5(a)(1): Section 5 (a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm, including severe burns, to employees in that employees were exposed to dust explosion, deflagration or other hazards from dust collection equipment located in the pre- weigh room used to collect dust generated during the pre-weigh operation from rubber chemical additives: 1. The dust collector used for hoods over chemical storage drums and the pre-weigh stations did not have explosion prevention systems and was located inside the building. 2.The dust collector had no isolation dampers or system to prevent dust explosions from traveling back from the dust collector to the employee work area. 3.The flexible ducts used to connect the hoods to the duct-work were not grounded. 4.The manually adjusted gate on the pre-weigh hood was not secured after the system was balanced. Among other methods, a feasible abatement method to correct this hazard is: Relocate dust collector outside the building and install relief venting or other explosion suppression or prevention system on the dust collection system. Install isolation dampers or other isolation system. Secure blast gates so that they cannot be moved and ground the flexible ducts. Air passing through dust collectors may be returned to the building if collector has an efficiency of 99.9at 10 m. Installations and modifications should be done per requirements of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 654 Standard for the Prevention of Fire and Dust Explosions from the Manufacturing, Processing and Handling of Combustible Solids and NFPA 69 Standard on Explosion Prevention Systems and NFPA 68 Guide for Venting Deflagrations.