OSHA Inspection: CARPENTER CO.

Issued

Dec 11, 2009

Abate by

Aug 11, 2010

Penalty

Initial $4,500 · Current $2,250 Reduced

General-duty citation text

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: The
employer did not
furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from
recognized hazards
that are likely to cause blunt force trauma, burns, serious injury or
death in that employees
are exposed to fire and explosion hazards.
a)For the area around the holding totes, class 2 dust is swept and
vacuumed with a
Rigid Shop vacuum, not approved for a class 2 location.
b)All dust collectors/air material separators, 55 ft cubic ft. each, are
located inside the
building and not equipped with explosion relief venting or an explosion
suppression
system.
c)Dust collectors vent exhaust to the inside of the building, and are not
equipped with a
filtering system to maintain filter efficiency to 99.9at 10 microns.
Although the
exhaust from the cyclonic dust compactors are recycled to fiber mesh bags
which
feed
the granulator, the air and dust can escape to the building atmosphere
through the
bags and a filtering efficiency of 99.9at 10 microns is not established.
The
transmission of energy through a fire or explosion is also not prevented
for the
exhaust from the air material separator.
ABATEMENT NOTE: Among other methods, one feasible and acceptable method to
correct these hazards is to comply with the National Fire Protection
Agency NFPA
654 "Standard for the Prevention of Fire and Dust Explosions from the
Manufacturing, Processing, and Handling of Combustible Particulate Solids
2006
Edition" and NFPA 69 "Standard on Explosion Prevention Systems 2008
edition";
including but not limited to: a) Use a vacuum cleaner listed for use in a
class 2
hazardous location, b) Install explosion relief venting on all dust
collectors, venting to
an outside area with no potential to be occupied by employees or install a
suppression
system in all dust collectors, c) Install filters for the exhaust from the
cyclonic dust
collector/separator to ensure that filtering efficiency is 99.9efficient
at 10
microns.d) Implement a choke or a suppression system for the dust
collector exhaust
stream to eliminate the potential for the transmission of energy from a
fire or
explosion to the building. All of these implementations should be in
agreement with
NFPA 69 "Standard on Explosion Prevention Systems, 2008 Edition".