HazardCommunicationGuidancefor CombustibleDusts

1 OS HA 33 71-082009Ha zar d Communication Gu id anceforCo mb ust ible Dust . Dep artment of Lab orOccu pati onal Saf et y an d Heal th AdministrationOSHA 3371-082009 Hazar d Co mmuni cat ion Gui dance forCom bus tibl e Dus tsOccupationalSafetyandHealthActof1970 To as sure saf e and hea lthfu l wo rk in gco nditionsfor work ing me n and women;by authorizingen forc em en t of thest an dar ds de ve lopedun der the Ac t; byas si stin g and encou ragi ng the St ate s intheir effortsto assu re saf e and he al thfulwor king conditions.

2 By prov idi ng forre se arch , info rm atio n, ed uca tion , andtra ining in the fie ld of oc cupa tio nal safe tyand health . This publ icati on prov ide s a ge nera loverview of a part icularst an s publ icat ion doesno t alter ordet ermi ne co mpl ianceresponsibilitieswhichare set forthin OSHA standards,and theOc cu pati onal Saf et yan dHealthAct. Mor eover,becauseint er pretat ionsand enfo rc ementpolicymay changeovertime,for add it io nal guidanceon OSHA compliancerequirem ent s, the re adershouldconsultcur re nt adm inistr ativeinterpretationsand decisionsby theOccu pa tio nal Safet y and Healt h ReviewCommissio n and the court nt ainedin thi s publi cationis inthe public dom ain and may be reproduced,fully or pa rtia lly.

3 Wit houtper dit is requested but in formation will be made av aila bleto sensoryim pai red individualsuponrequ est. Vo ice phone: (202) 693-1999;tele -typewriter(T TY) number:1- troductio nCombu sti ble dusts are fin e partic les that pr esentan exp lo sio n hazardwhen suspen ded in ai r undercert ain con dit ions. A dust expl osi on can causecatas tr op hic loss of li fe, inju ries , and destructionof buil dings. The . Chemi cal Safet y an d HazardInvest ig atio n Bo ard (C SB) iden tif ied 281 com -bu stib le dust inc iden ts between1980and 2005that led to the death s of 119 wor ker s, injured718,an d extensivel y damaged numero us industrialfa ci li ties.

4 Mo re recen tl y, ad diti onal incidentsha veoc curred . On Feb ru ary 7, 2008,a sugar dustexp los ion an d subseq uent fire at a sugarrefi neryin Po rt Wen tw orth, Geo rg ia, cau sed 14 deat hs andleft man y oth er wo rk ers serio usly injured withsevereburn manyof thes e inc iden ts, wo rk ers and man -ag ers wer e un awar e of th e po ten tial for dustexp los ion s, or failedto rec ognize the seriousnatu re of dust exp lo sio n hazards. The CSBre viewedMaterial SafetyData Sheets (MSDS) of140 known substan ces th at pro duce combustibledu sts an d fou nd poo r or inadeq uate tr an smit tal ofinfo rmation reg ard in g poten tial du st hazards.

5 41%of the MS DSs revi ewedby th e CSB did no t warnus ers ab out poten ti al exp lo sio n there main in g 59% of MSD Ss sampl ed, mostof theinfo rmation was eit her not stat ed in a pl ace orman ner clear ly rec ogni zed by wor ker s, or was notsp ec ifi c to hazar ds rel at ed to comb ustible dusts(C SB , 2006).1Th e HazardCommunic ati on Stan dard com pre-hen sivel y add res ses th e evaluati on of the poten-ti al hazards of chemi cals an d th e communicationof hazardinf ormat io n to wo rk ers (29 CFR (a)(2)).

6 It is a per fo rman ce- orientedstandardthat app lies to an y chemi cal kno wn to be presentin th e wo rk plac e in such a man ner that workersmay be exp osed under normal cond itionsof useor in a fo res eeable emergen cy (29 CFR (b) (2) ). Reg ard ing dus ts an d other particulat es, a32 ContentsIn tr sHazar d en tifyingan d ControllingthePot entialfo r epar odu ct Lab ing and Info ditio na l Inf sis tan io nal Of ve st ig at io n Re port No . 200 6- H-1 Com busti ble Du st Hazard Stud guidance document is not a standardorregulation, and it creat es no new is advi so ry in nat ur e, inf ormationalincont ent , and is inten ded to assistemployers,manufactu rer s and importers to complywithOSHA sHazardCommunicationStandard.

7 Sec ond, fo r everychemic al fo und to be haz -ard ous, th ech emi cal man ufac tu rer or imp ortermu st develop MS DS s an d cont ain er labelstobe tran smitt ed to down streamusers of thechemic als .Emp loy ersare req uir ed to maintainan MSDSin th e wo rk plac e for eac h hazardouschemic al th at they use (P arag rap hs (f), (g)); Third ,al l emp lo yersmu st develop a wri ttenhazardcommunic at ion pro gram and providein fo rmat io n an d trai ning to wo rk ers aboutthehazardous chemic als in thei r wo rk place(P arag rap hs (e), (h)).

8 Th e in fo rmat io n comp onent s of this program lab els , MS DSs , an d emp lo yee trai ning are alles sen tial to the effec ti ve fu nc ti oni ng of a hazardco mmunicatio n pro ent ifyin g an d Con tro ll in g th ePo tential fo r Du st Explos ionsTh e hazarddeterminati on mu st incl ude an as sess -men t of al l phys ical an d heal th emic al manufac tu rer or imp orter mustcons iderthe poten ti al exp osu res th atmayoccur undernor -mal con dit io ns of use or in fo res eeable emergen-ci es.

9 An d ad dres s known hazards on the MS DSan d, wher e app ro pri ate, on th e lab el preparedforthe pro duct. Reg ar ding comb ust ib le dusts,an tici -patedtyp es of operati ons, uses or downstreammat erial pr oc es sin g th at gen eratedust s shouldbeco nsid erednormal conditi ons of useof a sub -stan ce. Thes e in clude oper atio ns and uses such asab ras ive bl as tin g, cutti ng, gr in din g, polishingorcru shin g of material s; conveying, mixi ng, siftingor screen in g dry materials ; an d th e bui ldup ofdri ed res id ue fro m pro ces sin g wet mat eri als.

10 TheCSB fo un d th at man y of th e MSD Ss did not iden -ti fy th e poten tial fo r combu sti bl e dust expl osionsthat co uld reas onab ly have been anti cipateddur -ing down streammat er ial pro ces sing (CS B, 2006).haza rd eval uati on mu st be con ductedtakingintoconsiderati on all discerniblehazards,includingthat of expl os ib il ity. It is inc umbentuponmanu-fa cture rs an d imp or ters to pr ovideinf ormationonthe pote ntial for an d controlof CombustibleDusts .