Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 001 Hazard: DUST&FUMES

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 to employees, in that employees were exposed to fire, deflagration and/or explosion hazards from combustible aluminum dust both alone and in combination with steel dust, which can enhance the hazards, in the horizontal belt sanding and dust collection operation: A.The Butfering SteelMaster Horizontal Belt Sander was used to process both aluminum and steel sheet metal stock, a practice that potentially enhanced the combustible dust hazards. B.A single duct was used to begin collection of the combustible aluminum and steel dusts generated from the horizontal belt sander operation, a process that potentially enhanced the combustible dust hazards. C.There were no engineering controls in place to prevent the hazardous mixing of combustible aluminum dust and steel dust from the horizontal belt sanding operation, which relied on the manual selection and operation of a lever that could direct most of the aluminum dust to a Cincinnati Fan Dust Collector, Model 100S/T1, Serial Number 1001711-2S and most of the steel dust to an old Torit cyclone dust collector. D.The Cincinnati Fan Dust Collector provided to collect combustible aluminum dust, as well as its affiliated duct and exhaust, was not designed to collect or handle combustible aluminum dust. It was a dry-type collector; it was located indoors near employee work stations; it recycled its exhaust air back into the building; and it - along with it duct work and the horizontal belt sander - lacked spark/fire detection, fire/exposion suppression, explosion isolation and explosion venting devices to protect from combustible dust fire and explosion hazards. E.The Cincinnati Fan Dust Collector provided to collect combustible aluminum dust was mounted on a 55 gallon barrel with an attached collection bag that contained an estimated 3 to 5 pounds of combustible dust at the time of the inspection. It was used daily, but not emptied daily; and fugitive dust had accumulated on its surface and the surrounding floor. Among other methods, one feasible and acceptable abatement method is to perform aluminum sanding operations, including the collection of affiliated combustible aluminum dust, in accordance with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 484 Standard for Combustible Metals.