Apple is still working with Pegatron Corp. to understand the cause of this particular explosion. Details on the conditions of the employees have not been released but we hope they do not suffer from any serious injuries!

To learn more about the history of combustible dust fires and explosions (in the U.S.) and the hazards it can present to manufacturers and industrial companies, tune in and listen to our two part podcast: Combustible Dust, Manufacturers’ Dirty Little Secret.

Taken from Safety Messages – Take More Action to Prevent Dust Explosions by John Bresland, previous Chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, February 4, 2009

Recently I spoke about the need for effective winterization programs to prevent dangerous failures of process piping and equipment. But there’s another kind of hazard that appears to be particularly acute during the winter months: combustible dust. I call on industry to take this hazard seriously – during the winter months and throughout the year. And I urge the incoming leadership at OSHA to act upon the CSB’s recommendations from 2006 to develop a comprehensive regulatory standard for combustible dust. Of eight catastrophic dust explosions since 1995, all but one occurred during cold weather months. Four disastrous dust explosions occurred during the month of February alone. According to experts, low humidity levels in winter can make dust particularly easy to disperse and ignite. And this danger is not one to overlook: since the CSB was established in 1998, three of the four deadliest accidents that we have investigated have been combustible dust explosions. These accidents struck suddenly at major manufacturing sites in North Carolina, Kentucky, and Georgia, and they caused horrible human suffering. A total of 27 workers lost their lives, and scores of others were injured. A number suffered severe burn injuries that left them terribly disfigured or unable to work. All three plants were devastated and needed to be completely rebuilt at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. The tragic thing about dust explosions is that they are readily preventable. The key is to avoid accumulations of combustible dust – particularly on elevated or hard-to-clean elevated surfaces. The National Fire Protection Association warns that even 1/32” of an inch of accumulated dust can give rise to an explosion. That’s about the thickness of a dime. Many common solids – like sugar, flour, coal, aluminum, and most plastics and organic chemicals – can pose a dust explosion risk. This is an insidious danger, and it doesn’t take much dust to destroy a facility. So companies that handle or process these materials in powdered form need to be extremely vigilant.

Fourteen employees were killed and 40 injured when finely ground motes of dust ignited and set off a violent blast at a sugar plant near Savannah, GA, in February of 2008. In addition to the fatalities and a tarnished reputation, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has fined the company more than US$8 million in workplace violations related to combustible dust. Read more here: http://www.issa.com/?m=articles&event=view&id=3153

Increased Collection Capacity; Increased Savings

June 9, 2009, Malvern, PA—The Nilfisk CFM R Series of industrial vacuums continuously and efficiently collects large quantities of packaging scraps at the source when integrated with cutting and other packaging equipment. In these applications, the vacuums’ unique scrap-compacting feature enables workers to double – and in some cases triple – collection capacity, dramatically reducing downtime.

The R Series is designed to extract lateral trim, scraps, and dust during trimming and edging applications. It features a three-phase powered induction motor with regenerative blower that operates virtually maintenance-free in continuous duty packaging applications. High vacuum pressure compresses the collected debris to optimize the collection capacity by up to 300%, dramatically decreasing downtime. Features include a viewing window to indicate when reusable collection bag needs emptying, mounted wheels for easy maneuverability, quiet operation, and heavy duty steel or stainless steel collection container.