WASHINGTON, Ind. — A recent explosion at the Didion Milling Plant milling plant in Wisconsin, which killed four people and injured about a dozen more, has put agricultural dust explosions in the news.

 

Purdue University already had two workshops planned for June 21-22 to help farmers and employees of grain handling facilities better understand how to prevent grain dust combustion and explosions. Presenters will be Kingsley Ambrose, assistant professor in its Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and Chad Martin, extension renewable energy specialist.

Another authority on the topic, Carol Jones – associate professor and Buchanan Endowed Chair in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering at Oklahoma State University – explained that safety experts need to encourage people to take care of housekeeping on the farm and at grain handling facilities, and to keep ahead of the maintenance on their equipment.

“Those two things are the biggest things they can do to prevent explosions,” she said.

Five factors need to be present for a dust explosion to happen, Ambrose said. The first two are the dust and oxygen both of which are always present on farms and at grain handling facilities.

The dust must be suspended, because it won’t cause an explosion just resting on a shelf; vibration, maybe from somebody driving by in a truck, can cause that.

The dust must also be contained – that is, in a confined space. Even with the other factors present, a dust explosion is not likely to happen outside in a parking lot. “The final factor is a combustion or ignition source,” Ambrose said. “Most of the time all of the factors are present except the ignition source.

“The dust is always there with the grains. There are lots of ignition sources; it could be from static electricity, belts rubbing, metal-to-metal impact during grinding – these can lead to being an ignition source.”

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cracked down on the amount of dust it will allow in a commercial facility, Jones said. That has encouraged people there to be a little more diligent. Most farm facilities do not come under the auspices of OSHA, however, so farmers are encouraged to be more watchful.

Workers and employees can do a couple of things to prevent dust explosions, Ambrose said. One is to keep the facility clean, so there is either no dust or minimum dust; always be on top of housekeeping schedules.

Second, do equipment maintenance frequently. Most of the ignition sparks originate from any moving parts and any friction can lead to an ignition source.

“The third thing is keeping workers and employers informed about the danger of dust and dust explosions,” Ambrose said. “Most of the incidents happen when they are unaware of these dangers. If they are aware of explosion issues, they might be on top of their game on maintenance and housekeeping.”

The Purdue workshops, funded by an OSHA grant, will be on June 21 from 1-5 p.m. CDT, at the Consolidated Grain and Barge Co., located at 2801 Bluff Road in Mt. Vernon; and June 22, from 8 a.m.- noon EST, at the Daviess County 4-H Building in Eastside Park, 4-H Way, in Washington.

Registration is free and is required by June 16 for both workshops. For more information or to sign up, contact the Posey County extension office at 812-838-1331 (June 21) or the Daviess County office at 812-254-8668 (June 22).For more information for either location, email Martin at martin95@purdue.edu