By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH
Indiana Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Officials in the grain handling industry hope to convince the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that a change to the combustible dust standard for elevators isn’t necessary.

Last year, OSHA announced it was considering implementation of a comprehensive combustible dust standard for a variety of industries, including agriculture. The review is partially in response to a 2008 explosion at a sugar refinery in Georgia that killed 14 and seriously injured 36, OSHA said in the announcement.

“The sugar plant incident highlighted a lack of hazard awareness and a failure to comply with existing federal standards and state codes,” the agency said. “OSHA took prompt action to further heighten awareness of this hazard by producing additional guidance for employers and workers, including a webpage, a fact sheet and a poster. The agency mailed the SHIB (Safety and Health Information Bulletin) directly to 30,000 employers suspected of having combustible dust hazards.”

While other industries have had problems with dust and explosions, the safety record for agriculture continues to improve, said Cress Hizer, president of the Agribusiness Council of Indiana.

“OSHA’s combustible dust standard has been our Bible. Other industries are having problems, but our explosion record has abated quite significantly.”

After a series of explosions nationwide in the 1970s, the industry focused on safety in hopes of improving the situation, Hizer said.
“From years ago, our record has improved by a big safety factor,” he explained. “The industry stepped up and did research about grain dust emissions and explosions. Our track record has been outstanding. They treat the grain with an edible oil, they collect the dust and do housekeeping.

“We really haven’t had a problem. We’re asking them to not put the same new standards on us they might on other industries. Our current standards are more than adequate, absolutely.”
The grain handling industry currently operates under a combustible dust standard implemented in 1988. For the 10 years prior - 1978 to 1987 - the average number of grain explosions per year was 20.5, OSHA said.

From 1988 to 1997, the average decreased to 10.3 annually, and from 1998 to 2007, the average dipped to 6.3 per year.
The National Grain and Feed Assoc. (NGFA) has asked OSHA to exempt grain elevators, feed mills and grain processing plants from any new dust standard.

“We firmly believe there is overwhelming evidence supporting the grain-handling facility standard’s effectiveness in preventing fires and explosions at a time when grain-handling capacity has increased significantly,” NGFA said in a statement. “We urge OSHA not to propose any major changes to the existing standard, and to exempt all grain-related enterprises partially or fully subjected to the grain-handling facilities standard from being subject to any general industry combustible dust standard the agency ultimately may adopt.”

The current industry standard for grain dust is 1/8th of an inch, the NGFA said. OSHA may be considering a combustible dust standard of 1/32nd of an inch, the association said. Such a change would increase compliance costs by several fold without significantly improving safety, NGFA said.

Attempts to reach officials in the federal OSHA office for comment were unsuccessful. Certain dusts, such as those produced by foods and aluminum production, may create massive explosions, said Jeff Carter, deputy commissioner and director of Indiana’s OSHA office.

“They happen with remarkable speed and power, especially some food dusts. Aluminum dust can ignite a big hot blast. It can be a very violent and bright fire.”

Larger grain facilities with a lot of dust from nearly constant flowing grain are more of a concern than smaller silos on a family farm, Carter said.

There’s a possibility a new standard for combustible dust wouldn’t include agriculture, he said.

“The industry has made great strides under the existing standard over the last few years. I suspect any new standard would be much more strict. It’s a very fluid situation.

“Fortunately, these types of explosions don’t happen very often. But when they do, they’re usually accompanied by tragic consequences.”

Given the reduction in the number of agriculture-related dust explosions, other industries could look to agriculture as an example of how to improve safety, said Dee Jepsen, Ohio State University extension agriculture safety leader.

“The industry is doing a great job with engineering, and cleaning and removing dust,” she said. “Other industries can see what’s working somewhere.

“These standards are there for a good reason,” she explained. “They’re not developed out of maliciousness. There’s always the potential to improve standards and safety.”