Text For Citation: 02 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 increased risk for injury related to fire, deflagration and explosions because methods were not used to ensure the proper collection and prevent ignition of combustible dust during aluminum metal processing related to the continuous aluminum casting operation: As of and prior to June 4, 2010, in the area immediately adjacent to the continuous casting operation: (a)The DCE Unicell series C "dry-type" dust collector used to collect combustible dust was located inside the building, (b)The dust collector was not properly bonded and grounded to minimize static electricity "charging" of the collection system, (c)The filtration media used in the dust collector was not designed for bonding and grounding to dissipate static electric charge, (d)The dust collector ductwork had irregularities related to flexible ductwork use and the multiple "bends and turns" orientation of the ductwork pipe. Additionally a section of the ductwork pipe is unused and capped to create a "dead-end" section. These conditions can interrupt free airflow and allow for the build-up of material in these sections of the collection system ductwork. (e)The dust collector was not provided with proper deflagration venting to a safe location. (f)There were no signs to demarcate the dust collector as having contents posing an explosion hazard. (g)There were no systems or equipment in place to prevent propagation and transmission of deflagration upstream of the collector in the ductwork. ABATEMENT NOTE: Among other methods, feasible and acceptable methods to correct this hazard would be to comply with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 484 "Standard for Combustible Metals" (2009 edition) and NFPA 69 "Standard on Explosion Prevention Systems" as they apply to your operations and equipment; including, but not limited to, the following, (1) locate dry type dust collectors outside of buildings (NFPA 484 section 6.3.2.5), (2) properly bond and ground dry-type dust collectors (NFPA 484 section 6.3.3.6), (3) install and maintain static charge dissipating filter media to dry-type dust collectors (NFPA 484 section 6.3.5.2), (4) properly design dust collector ductwork systems (NFPA 484 sections 6.3.3.5), (5) design and install properly sized deflagration venting (NFPA 484 section 6.3.5.6), (6) properly demarcate the dust collector with appropriate signage (NFPA section 6.3.2.5.3), (7) evaluate and implementan explosion prevention and control system according to one or a combination of the methods found in NFPA 69.