DOL Announces Combustible Dust Rulemaking
May 4, 2009
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The Department of Labor announced Wednesday that it will pursue a “comprehensive rulemaking” on combustible dust.
OSHA intends to issue an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, and stakeholder meetings will be scheduled to evaluate possible regulatory methods, according to a DOL press release.
Some stakeholders have been pushing for a general industry standard on combustible dust for years, and the Chemical Safety Board made a similar recommendation in 2006.
Since 1980, more than 130 workers have been killed and 780 injured in combustible dust explosions, according to the release. In the most recent explosion, 14 workers were killed in 2008 at an Imperial Sugar Co. facility in Georgia.
