Category: NFPA

News You Can Use

Posted on by Conversion Technology

Adam Haroz, CTI’s Director of Engineering, will be speaking at this year’s American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) conference. He will be presenting on the topic of Robot Risk Assessment Requirements. He will review the updated standards and regulations around robot safety, as well as risk assessment methodologies and risk reduction techniques. The presentation will be on Monday, June 5th.

https://safety.assp.org/

The creation of the NFPA 660 standards is in the works. The NFPA standards governing combustible dust are being combined into a new overarching standard, NFPA 660. The first public comment period has ended. The updated standard is expected to be published early next year.

https://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/all-codes-and-standards/list-of-codes-and-standards/detail?code=660

 

Combustible Dust Hazards and Abatement Techniques for the Wood Pellet Industry

Posted on by Adam Haroz, EIT

By now most companies and people throughout the manufacturing sector have heard of Combustible Dust as it has become a widely discussed topic. As a review, combustible dust fires and explosions are caused when a combustible atmosphere of dust, or a layer of flammable solids, is introduce to an ignition source. This can be demonstrated by the fire triangle or explosion pentagon. These ignitions can be made worse if there are significant levels of dust accumulation present in surrounding areas, and hazard mitigation techniques are not properly utilized. One of the best ways to identify these dust fire and explosion hazards, as well as being the first step in putting a mitigation action plan together is a Combustible Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA). Besides being a great first step it is also a required one according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards 652 and 61. Continue reading “Combustible Dust Hazards and Abatement Techniques for the Wood Pellet Industry” →

NFPA 61 Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA) Deadline Is Approaching

Posted on by Conversion Technology

Many facilities in the food and agriculture industry have processes that handle combustible dusts and powders. Because of this, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has developed several standards to help facilities have safely manage combustible dust and associated hazards. Many of these standards are commodity-specific standards that are developed to give specific industries combustible dust standards that are based on their types of operation equipment, and the input from those that know the most about those processes and materials. Facilities in the food and agriculture industry should refer to NFPA 61: Standard for Prevention of Fires and Dust Explosions in Agricultural and Food Processing Facilities which was recently updated in 2020. One primary requirement listed in NFPA 61 is the need for facilities to conduct a Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA) by January 1, 2022.

What is a DHA? Continue reading “NFPA 61 Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA) Deadline Is Approaching” →

Combustible Dust Hazard Identification and the Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA)

Posted on by Conversion Technology

Most facilities that are handling combustible dusts are now familiar with the term “Dust Hazard Analysis” or “DHA” and understand that it comes from a standard issued by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), nfpa.org. The most referred to standard is NFPA 652 – Standard on the Fundamentals of Combustible Dust. From NFPA 652, the key requirements for conducting a DHA are: Continue reading “Combustible Dust Hazard Identification and the Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA)” →

Dust Hazard Analyses (DHAs) for New and Modified Processes

Posted on by Conversion Technology

Most facilities that are handling/producing combustible dusts are now familiar with the term “Dust Hazard Analysis” or “DHA” and understand that it comes from a standard issued by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), nfpa.org. Furthermore, by now, many facilities subject to the requirements for conducting a DHA on their existing processes have had that completed. The most referred to standard is NFPA 652 – Standard on the Fundamentals of Combustible Dust. This set the requirement to have the DHA completed for existing processes by September 7, 2020. Now the commodity specific standard for agricultural and food: NFPA 61 – Standard for the Prevention of Fires and Dust Explosions in Agricultural and Food Processing Facilities did set a different date of January 1, 2022. This is the only commodity specific standard that did this; all other standards refer to the date in NFPA 652. There are a few other differences around the DHA requirements between NFPA 61 and 652. For the purposes of this article, we will just focus on the requirements in NFPA 652. Continue reading “Dust Hazard Analyses (DHAs) for New and Modified Processes” →

Is Your Welding Fume Dust Combustible?

Posted on by Conversion Technology

When we are discussing whether a facility needs to conduct a Combustible Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA) or if dust explosibility testing is needed, it is common for material like aluminum dust, phenolic resin, iron, powder coat, etc. to be included in the discussion as it is relatively known that these materials are combustible dusts. However, it regularly occurs that the dusts and fumes from welding activities are not brought up by the facility. A widely held view in general industry is that dust from welding operations contains only oxidized metal and is therefore not combustible. Recent studies and CTI’s own investigations have found this to be incorrect.

Continue reading “Is Your Welding Fume Dust Combustible?” →

Multi-Site DHAs in the Food and Grain Industries

Posted on by Adam Haroz, EIT

Most facilities that are handling/producing combustible dusts are now familiar with the term “Dust Hazard Analysis” or “DHA” and understand that it comes from a standard issued by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), nfpa.org. The most referred to standard is NFPA 652 – Standard on the Fundamentals of Combustible Dust. This is the overarching standard that applies to all facilities and serves as a starting point for the commodity-specific dust standards (e.g., 61 for agricultural and food, 664 for wood products, 484 for metals, 654 for general processing). The requirement for all facilities handling and/or generating combustible dusts to conduct a DHA originated from the 2016 edition of NFPA 652. The 2019 edition of this standard did change the deadline for existing operations to have the DHA completed was updated to September 7, 2020 and several of the commodity specific standards made the same updates. However, the 2020 edition of NFPA 61: Standard for the Prevention of Fires and Dust Explosions in Agricultural and Food Processing Facilities set a different deadline. The deadline for existing food and agricultural facilities to have their DHAs completed is January 1, 2022.

Why would NFPA 61 use a different deadline? This is the only commodity standard that changed the deadline. All other industries kept the September 7, 2020 date. The reason for this deadline comes down to cost and time constraints:

  • There are more affected food and agricultural facilities under common ownership than in the other standards;
  • The cost and time to have the DHAs completed for all applicable facilities under one company is greater; and,
  • The cost for implementing the recommendations for all applicable facilities under one company is greater.

Continue reading “Multi-Site DHAs in the Food and Grain Industries” →

Free Webinar: Combustible Dust Hazards and NFPA Compliance for Storage Equipment

Posted on by Conversion Technology

Combustible Dust Hazards and NFPA Compliance for Storage Equipment — Real World Insight from Team of Industry Experts on Dust Testing, Analysis and Recommendations for Deflagration Venting and Suppression

Tuesday, March 24, 2020
12:00 p.m. (Noon) – 1:30 p.m. ET
This is a FREE webinar.

REGISTER HERE

Continue reading “Free Webinar: Combustible Dust Hazards and NFPA Compliance for Storage Equipment” →

Changes to NFPA Combustible Dust Standards

Posted on by Conversion Technology

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), nfpa.org, is an organization tasked with developing and maintaining fire protection and life safety standards in the United States and worldwide. In addition to subjects such as sprinkler design, flammable liquid storage, and emergency exit requirements, NFPA has standards that deal specifically with combustible dust; a topic that CTI has been focused on for over a decade. There are several NFPA Standards that address combustible dust: NFPA 652 – Standard on the Fundamentals of Combustible Dust, is the overarching standard that applies to all facilities, and there are also several commodity-specific dust standards (e.g. 61 for agricultural and food, 664 for wood products, 484 for metals). CTI is a principal member of both the NFPA 61 Technical Committee for Agricultural Dust and the NFPA 664 Technical Committee for Wood and Cellulosic Materials Processing and has worked with several of the other committees. All of these standards have updated in 2018 and 2019, and CTI is here to help our clients understand what that will mean for them.

Continue reading “Changes to NFPA Combustible Dust Standards” →