Published on 29/09/23 150 Views

Dust explosions can occur in any industrial site that handles bulk powders. Dusts involved include common products like sugar, flour, cocoa; chemicals, dyestuffs and pharmaceuticals, plastics, metals such as aluminium and magnesium and traditional fuels such as coal and wood. There are five conditions necessary for a dust explosion to occur, called the “explosion pentagon”, which are the presence of combustible dust, oxidant, ignition source, concentration of dust mixed in the air within explosive range and confinement. The two broad categories of dust explosions are primary and secondary. A dust explosion initiated under conditions of confinement is called a primary dust explosion. The force of the primary explosion may disturb surrounding dust, forming another dust cloud, and the flame from the primary explosion subsequently ignites that suspended dust cloud. Secondary explosions are also initiated under conditions of confinement and generally more destructive than the primary explosion.

Ask yourself and your crew:

How can something like this happen here (e.g. on our site)?
What safety measures (i.e. procedures, controls/barriers) do we have in place to mitigate the risk?
How do we know the risk controls/barriers are working?
What improvements or changes should we make to the procedures, controls/barriers or the way we work?

Original content courtesy of IChemE Safety Centre

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ISC Safety Lore Issue 15 - Key lessons from incidents related to dust explosions

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