An international food manufacturer needed Dust Hazard Analyses (DHAs) facilitated within an accelerated timeframe for over a dozen of their facilities across the U.S. to meet NFPA inspector requirements. DHAs are now required according to NFPA 652, a standard that applies to any facility handling combustible dust or combustible particulate solids. Our client needed someone with deep expertise in evaluating equipment for operations in the food industry. This included solids loading and unloading, conveying, drying, mixing and blending, bulk storage, milling and grinding, and dust collection.
To determine which areas posed true risks, the ioKinetic team conducted laboratory testing of products and onsite assessments of compliance with standards such as NFPA 61, 68, 69, 654, CCPS Publications, the OSHA National Emphasis Program (NEP) for combustible dusts, and recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices (RAGAGEPs). They also performed fault tree analysis for generic operations to assess the frequency of potential explosions. Fault tree analysis uses mathematical and graphic representations of systems to analyze the likelihood of failure, thus improving understanding of the hazards.
These reports were beneficial to the managers and operators of all their facilities to address and manage hazards, hazards that may not have been noticed. The fault tree diagrams made it easier for them to understand how one or more minor failure events lead to a catastrophic failure. By using the hazard assessment documentation software PHAGlobal® from our partner ioMosaic Corporation, ioKinetic was able to deliver the assessments in a timely and efficient manner. The client was especially pleased with the detailed analysis, as it helped them select the appropriate corrective and preventive measures and plan for their future needs.