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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) announced in a January 27th news release revisions to its Combustible Dust National Emphasis Program (“Dust Program”). See Directive No.: CPL 03-00-008.
The effective date of the revised Dust Program is January 30th.
OSHA states the purpose of the revised Dust Program is to:
. . . continue OSHA inspections of facilities that generate or handle combustible dusts likely to cause fire, flash fire, deflagration and explosion hazards.
National emphasis programs are described by OSHA as temporary programs that focus their resources on hazards in high-hazard industries. Existing and potential new emphasis programs are stated to be evaluated using inspection data, injury and illness data, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reports, peer-reviewed literature, analysis of inspection findings, and other available information sources.
OSHA states that the Dust Program was revised based on:
- Enforcement history
- Combustible dust incidents reports
Wood and food products are identified as constituting an average of 70 percent of the materials involved in combustible dust fires and explosions. Further, incident reports are stated to indicate that the majority of the industries involved in combustible dust hazards are:
- Wood processing
- Agriculture and food production
- Lumber production
The revised Dust Program states the following industries have been added because of a belief they have had a higher likelihood of having combustible dust hazards or experienced combustible dust-related fatalities/catastrophes. These include:
- 311912 - Commercial Bakeries
- 325910 - Printing Ink Manufacturing
- 321912 - Cut Stock, Resawing Lumber, and Planning
- 316110 - Leather and Hide Tanning and Finishing
- 321214 - Truss Manufacturing
- 424510 - Grain and Field Bean Merchant Wholesalers
A copy of the news release containing a link to the revised Dust Program can be found here.
