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Grain Dust Explosions DOUBLED in 2005! |
March 28, 2006 |
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Posted by Joe Lewis at March 28, 2006 03:53 PM |
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That's right. According to a professor at Kansas State University and a representative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there was a total of 13 grain explosions reported in 2005. This compared to only 6 in 2004.
Unfortunately these thirteen explosions had 2 deaths and 11 injuries associated with them. They were spread around the country, with three in Minnesota alone. Other states where these explosions occurred included North Carolina, Kentucky, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma and Washington.
Causes of these explosions are still partly unknown, 5 out of 11. Known sources include welding/cutting, extensions light, bearing failure and static electricity.
So, how do we prevent these catastrophic failures from occurring. The loss of life is irreplaceable. The cost of the damage runs over $500K in most instances.
Here's a link back to a couple of other related blog postings that provide more information about dust explosions and also about silo failures (an explosion qualifies).
Silo Failures and Dust Explosions (last post on this page)
Let's work together make 2006 much safer,
Joe Lewis
Vice President - Marketing & Sales
Monitor Technologies LLC
jlewis@monitortech.com
www.monitortech.com
www.flexar.info
Comments
I teach safety courses and am interested in the fire-chemistry of dust fires and explosions and what happens at the individual dust particle level, i.e., "What does particle size have to do with the issue?" For instance, small aluminum (or other metal) dust particles have same problems as grain dust. So, it seems to me that there must be some critical mass size, smallness threshold, which makes so many damn electrons readily available that ignition can occur. Do you have some chemist or physicist that can help me with this......???
Posted by: Fred Cowie, Ph.D. at August 1, 2007 09:05 AM
