Rules & Regulations
“Required Rules & Regulations for Explosion Protection Systems”
Rules, Regulations & Directives
Navigating the waters of explosion protection systems can be confusing and overwhelming. There are rules, regulations, directives, and guidelines to adhere to and steps that need to be taken to ensure you are protected should there be an incident, but sometimes the answer isn’t always straightforward.
Do you think you might have an explosive dust and a potential explosion issue? If so, what Codes and Regulations does your application need to meet, and is there a governing policy or agency that oversees explosion protection mitigation procedures you select? Maybe CSB, OSHA, EPA, or state or local municipality?
The documentation on explosions due to combustible dust and the volumes of articles written on the subject clearly shows many unaddressed explosive applications. The safety of people, facilities, and processes mandate that protective action is instituted immediately.
Where do you find definitive direction to your explosion questions?
The guidelines published by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) hold the most relevance to explosion protection for most industrial ventilation processes. Their published Standards are extensive, continually updated, and spot-on for many process applications. They are recognized and referenced by federal, state, local, and even foreign authorities and are often made part of their Codes and regulation packages.
NFPA references an acronym AHJ or Authority Having Jurisdiction as an individual, governing office, or organization required for the decision-making process. These individuals ensure the correct guidelines, rules, and regulations are being followed. The initial step in this process is determining who that individual might be. Individuals or multiple individuals such as the fire marshal, building code official, township official, H&S, electrical inspector, utility provider, FM insurance inspector, or a rating bureau are all different options for the AHJ.
NFPA Standards 652, 654, 61, 68, 69, and 484 latest editions, are commonly applied.
Combustion research center test lab extraction arms for exhaust over 3 Liter Kunisphere’s used for testing material characteristics.
Combustable Dust Testing
Our experience points to immediately having your dust tested for combustibility or having a dust hazard analysis completed by a certified inspector. With that information and the process equipment layout, an explosion protection method can be determined with compliance to applicable rules and regulations ensured.
Because almost all dust is explosive to some degree, testing will determine the explosivity of the dust and will determine if there is a risk. The results from testing will either be non-combustible or combustible, and if combustible, the following path is determining what explosion protection equipment is required to make the system compliant.