In case you missed it, NFPA published their new COM DUST standard last month. This FIRST edition of NFPA 652, Standard on Combustible Dusts (link to free access), was issued by the Standards Council on August 18, 2015, with an effective date of September 7, 2015. NFPA 652, Standard on the Fundamentals of Combustible Dust, provides the general requirements for management of combustible dust fire and explosion hazards and directs the user to NFPA’s industry- or commodity-specific standards, as appropriate:
- NFPA 61, Standard for the Prevention of Fires and Dust Explosions in Agricultural and Food Processing Facilities;
- NFPA 484, Standard for Combustible Metals;
- NFPA 654, Standard for the Prevention of Fire and Dust Explosions from the Manufacturing, Processing, and Handling of Combustible Particulate Solids;
- NFPA 655, Standard for Prevention of Sulfur Fires and Explosions; and
- NFPA 664, Standard for the Prevention of Fires and Explosions in Wood Processing and Woodworking Facilities.
This new standard establishes the relationship and hierarchy between it and any of the industry- or commodity-specific standards, ensuring that fundamental requirements are addressed consistently across industries, processes, and dust types.
While NFPA has addressed combustible dust hazards and safeguards for flour and pulverized fuels, such as coal, as far back as 1920, it was not until 2003 that users from all sectors comprehensively examined the specific requirements contained in the five commodity-specific NFPA standards. Those documents apply broadly to varied facilities, processes, equipment types, and dust types to protect against the hazards from combustible dust fires and explosions.
A basis for safety embedded in each of those standards requires the fuel — in this case dust — to be managed, ignition sources to be controlled, and impact from an explosion to be limited through construction, protection, isolation, and housekeeping.
Some users of the NFPA commodity-specific standards believed that the requirements were inconsistent between the various industry sectors and the dust types, leading to confusion in determining which standard applied and how to protect similar hazards within a given process. In response to that perceived challenge to the longstanding NFPA combustible dust standards, NFPA staff addressed the question of whether there was a better way to structure the committees and standards. Working through the direction of the NFPA Standards Council, a task group chaired by a member of the Council explored options for restructuring the combustible dust project. The task group consisted of the chairs of the technical committees for the four existing commodity-specific standards, an additional member from each committee, and NFPA staff liaisons. A report presented to the Standards Council at its March 2011 meeting contained two key recommendations:
- the establishment of a correlating committee to oversee the work of the four existing combustible dust committees, as well as the work of a proposed new Technical Committee on Fundamentals of Combustible Dusts, and
- the establishment of a new committee whose scope would permit it to develop documents on the management of hazards from combustible dusts and combustible particulate solids.
The Technical Committee on Fundamentals of Combustible Dusts began its work in earnest in early 2012, using task groups to develop draft chapters based on a straw-man outline proposed by the committee. A preliminary draft was developed and approved by the committee to serve as the basis for requesting approval from the NFPA Standards Council to establish a specific revision cycle. The Council initially approved the development of NFPA 652 for the Fall 2014 cycle; during the second draft stage of the process, however, the committee requested more time to review and process the extensive public comments received. That request was approved, and the standard was moved to the Annual 2015 cycle.
Hazard awareness appears prominently in the standard through the inclusion of chapters on hazard identification, hazard analysis or evaluation, and hazard management involving hazard prevention or mitigation. The committee made some of the requirements in NFPA 652 apply retroactively, including dust hazards analysis (DHA). For existing facilities, a DHA is permitted to be phased in and completed not later than 3 years from the effective date of the standard. Because so many of the investigation findings conclude that owners/operators appear to be unaware of the hazards posed by combustible particulate solids that have the potential to form combustible dusts when processed, stored, or handled, the Committee believed it essential to establish the DHA as a fundamental step in creating a plan for safeguarding such facilities.
Together with this first edition of NFPA 652, the combustible dust standards speak directly to such critical factors as dust containment and collection, hazard analysis, testing, ventilation, air flow, housekeeping, and fire suppression. The provisions of this new standard incorporate many of the lessons learned and recommendations issued as part of the combustible dust incident investigation findings reported by the Chemical Safety Board. In addition, this new standard complements the efforts of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and its National Emphasis Program on combustible dust.
This first edition of NFPA 652 is dedicated to the memory of workers who have suffered and lost their lives from the hazards of combustible dusts, in the hope that it will help prevent such tragedies in the future.
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