Enforcement of Combustible Dust Hazards in the News
Occupational Safety and Health Administration Assistant Secretary Edwin G. Foulke, Jr. recently testified before the House Education and Labor Committee to discuss OSHA's continuing efforts to protect employees from combustible dust hazards and investigate the cause of the February explosion at the Imperial Sugar Refinery in Savannah, Georgia.
"OSHA is intensifying its ongoing enforcement, education and outreach programs to ensure that employers and workers are doing everything they are supposed to be doing to protect against combustible dust," Foulke told the committee. He announced that OSHA has undertaken several initiatives to improve enforcement and outreach, and he urged employers and employees to review OSHA's new fact sheet (www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_General_Facts/OSHAcombustibledust.pdf) and poster (www.osha.gov/Publications/combustibledustposter.pdf) on combustible dust.
Foulke also issued a memorandum, along with OSHA's Safety and Health Information Bulletin on Combustible Dust, (www.osha.gov/dts/shib/shib073105.html) to OSHA's state plan administrators urging state-run occupational safety and health agencies to join OSHA in its focus on combustible dust hazards.
In addition, the agency recently reissued its Combustible Dust National Emphasis Program (NEP) Instruction to increase enforcement activities and focus on specific industry groups that have experienced frequent or catastrophic combustible dust incidents. The purpose of this NEP is to inspect workplaces that create or handle combustible dusts, which can cause intense burning or other fire hazards when suspended in air, and possibly lead to explosions. Under this expanded NEP, each OSHA area office is expected to inspect at least four facilities each fiscal year. The document can be found at www.osha.gov/OshDoc/Directive_pdf/CPL_03-00-008.pdf.
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