Daily Archives: March 24, 2010

On October 21, 2009 OSHA announced a proposed rule to address combustible dust explosions.  The rule would cover an estimated 16 million employees at approximately 426,000 facilities.  OSHA first addressed this issue in 1987 by promulgating 29 CFR 1910.272 for grain handling facilities.  In the 10 years prior to adopting that rule, there were 20.5 grain handling-related dust explosions per year in the U.S.  For the next 10 years there were 10.3, and from 1998-2007 there were 6.3 per year.

Following the 2008 Imperial Sugar explosion in Georgia, which killed, hospitalized or severely burned numerous employees, OSHA has been aggressively working toward drafting a comprehensive rule to address the larger issue of dust explosions in general industry, not just grain handlers.  Between 2007-2009, OSHA conducted 813 targeted inspections on affected facilities, issuing 3,662 citations primarily via the General Duty Clause.  In summarizing their findings, OSHA noted that 32 industry or consensus standards (i.e., NFPA, ASME, ANSI) address combustible dust, but that no single, comprehensive rule or standard exists.