Dangers of Food Dusts.
That’s right… you read that properly…. The Dangers of Food Dust.
First off, lets clarify. Yes, food dust is dangerous in the work place, and no it is not really down to you ingesting it or eating it – at least not for the purpose of this blog. Here we are focusing on food dust created from processes such as packing, milling, mixing etc.
The danger of this is two-fold. First off, there is the ever-present danger of repeated exposure to foreign bodies – breathing in air borne contaminates day after day. Regardless of what the contaminate is – be it wood dust, stone dust, chemical fumes or sugar dust – breathing foreign bodies into your lungs poses risks. Particles become lodged in your respiratory system and can cause irritation and inflammation and in some case, may never come out.
However, the biggest danger to life from most food dust is the explosive factor. Most food dusts are dry, lightweight dusts that can easily aerosolize and form a dust cloud.
Everyday foods like Flour, Custard Powder, Coffee, Grain….even Sugar can create potentially combustible dust clouds and thus risk creating an explosive atmosphere.
Flour, as an example, is a Carbohydrate. Carbohydrates contain sugar, starch, hydrogen and oxygen – so they make a good fuel source in the right circumstances. When flour particles have a very large surface area and when suspended in air, in the right mix,they have a large supply of yet more oxygen.
Being so small also, there can be a large number of particles in a small area. The small particles, when ignited burn very quickly, releasing energy very fast, thus creating an explosion.
Lets look at some examples:
On February 7th, 2008 at the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Georgia, United States, a dust explosion happened in the main factory. It was believed to have originated beneath storage silos in an area where employees packed sugar. The explosion occurred at around 7pm.
14 people tragically lost their lives and 38 we injured. 14 of those injured suffered life changing, serious injuries.
Within 24hrs the of the event, the explosive substance was identified as Sugar Dust.
In 2009, the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released its report into the industrial disaster. They reported the incident had been “entirely preventable” citing a 2004 CSB report into Imperial Sugar that highlighted serious failings and the dangers of a dust explosion. This report was not acted on by Imperial Sugar.
Check out the video below
Work applications that have the capacity to produce combustible dust have the potential to create highly hazardous working conditions if the dusts are not contained and removed safely. Safe handling of dry, combustible dusts requires the entire process that generates the dust to be considered. Dust can gather and pile up all creating dust “cakes” which can create additional risks when they are disturbed.
Good house cleaning, cleanliness, employee training and proper controls such as working fire detection and suppression, storage and extraction are vital in ensuring incidents like Imperial Sugar don’t happen again.
Consequences of failing to realise how dangerous combustible dusts can lead to:
- Serious injury or death
- Severe or catastrophic property damage
- Irreversible Environmental damage
- Long term business and financial implications
- Possible criminal proceedings
We have several articles on various potentially combustible dust types and the recommended methods of extracting them. Here we are focusing on food dusts which include but are not limited to:
- Powdered milk
- Sugar
- Flour
- Custard powder
- Dust from cocoa beans, coffee, rice flour and more.
Ensure you understand your process and the dangers of the dust you are creating. We offer a comprehensive range of dry dust extractors designed with safety in mind. We can ward against potential explosive and combustible dusts by ensuring use of the right extraction systems with the right features and capacities.
Implementing proper dust extraction is easy. We have a wide range of dry dust extractors, extraction benches, dust booths and centralised extraction services, contact us to find out more information or to talk about your application and materials. we are always happy to help.
Contact us via the Contact Form or Email us or Call 01489 899070
For more information please see the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmosphere Regulations (DSEAR), the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) 2002 Regulations, the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, INDG370: Controlling Fire and Explosion Risks at Work, HSG258: Controlling Airborne Contaminates at Work.
Useful links
Vodex Dangers of Combustible Dust Blog
Next week: Paper Dust
