When Dusting Is a Hazmat Activity

Dusting is considered a basic housekeeping task in most facilities, routinely left to the cleaning staff. However, dust in a manufacturing facility is another matter.

Dust found in industrial processing and manufacturing environments is not simply made up of dirt and dust mite excrement. It often contains hazardous participles that pose serious threats to workers’ health, according to Occupational Health & Safety. Respirable dusts like silica or combustible dusts are responsible for fires and explosions.

Many of these dust particles are smaller than 10 microns and invisible to the naked eye. The dust can hang in the air for days before settling on rafters, ledges, and equipment. The misconception that removing these combustible dust accumulations is a standard housekeeping activity and not a hazard abatement activity is a clear barrier to the prevention of combustible dust explosions.

The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Inspection Board (CSB) is still investigating a 2017 combustible dust explosion at a mill that killed four workers, injured 15 other employees, and resulted in US$1.8 million in Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) fines.

A CSB report found that the cost of dust abatement, complacency, and a general lack of awareness of combustible risk (even by supervisors and safety managers) were factors that lead to catastrophic explosions. Industrial combustible dust vacuum cleaners provide the safest method of removing accumulations of combustible dust.