The beginning of autumn has passed, and autumn is coming soon. The air humidity in autumn decreases, making it easier to produce dust. Dust fires in dry air are more likely to spread, and dust explosions have greater power. In the past, many dust explosion accidents occurred in autumn and winter. Now that autumn is approaching, Nuocheng Safety kindly reminds relevant enterprises to do a good job in dust explosion prevention.

Why is it easier for dust to explode when atmospheric humidity decreases?

From the perspective of dust explosion factors, a decrease in atmospheric humidity will first make the environment drier, making it easier for dust to disperse into the air, resulting in a dust concentration in the air closer to the lower explosive limit; Meanwhile, a decrease in humidity will make it easier for dust to ignite; Thirdly, in autumn and winter, due to the influence of low temperature and dryness, the oxygen content in the air will significantly increase compared to summer, which is also more likely to lead to dust explosion accidents.

What are the main dust explosion prevention measures for factory workshops?

Dust explosions often occur in production and processing sites accompanied by aluminum powder, magnesium powder, zinc powder, zirconium powder, cobalt powder, iron powder, aluminum processing grinding powder, PCB cutting, PCB destruction, various plastic powders, intermediates of organic synthetic drugs, corn starch, wheat flour, sugar, sawdust, dyes, bakelite ash, milk powder, tea leaf powder, tobacco powder, coal dust, plant fiber dust, etc.

What do we need to do about dust explosion prevention?

This issue is clearly stated in the relevant laws of the Ministry of Emergency Management of the People's Republic of China, and two of them are excerpted below:

Article 15: Dust explosion related enterprises shall, in accordance with relevant national or industry standards such as the "Dust Explosion Prevention Safety Regulations", set up dust removal systems in dust explosion hazardous areas relatively independently according to different process zones. Combustible dust shall not share the same dust removal system with combustible gases and other media that are prone to exacerbate explosion hazards. Dust removal systems in different fire zones are prohibited from interconnection. Process equipment that poses a risk of dust explosion should adopt one or more explosion control measures such as explosion venting, explosion-proof, inerting, explosion suppression, and explosion resistance, but explosion-proof measures should not be taken separately. It is prohibited to use dust settling chambers for dust removal or to use tunnel style structures as dust removal ducts. Metal dust such as aluminum and magnesium should be removed by negative pressure method. When other dust is limited by process conditions and blown by positive pressure method, reliable measures should be taken to prevent ignition sources.

Dust explosion related enterprises that adopt dry dust removal systems should install and use devices such as gas lock ash discharge, spark detection and extinguishing, wind pressure difference monitoring, and related safety equipment monitoring and warning information systems in accordance with relevant national or industry standards such as the "Dust Explosion Prevention Safety Regulations", combined with the actual process situation, to strengthen real-time monitoring of dust explosion hazardous areas where ignition sources and dust clouds may exist. The wet dust removal system for metal dust such as aluminum and magnesium should be equipped with liquid level and flow rate monitoring and alarm devices interlocked with polishing equipment, and maintain good ventilation in the workplace and dust collector body to prevent hydrogen accumulation and timely and standardized cleaning of settled dust slurry.

Article 16: For processes that are prone to mechanical ignition sources such as crushing, grinding, granulation, and sanding, dust explosion related enterprises shall adopt standardized measures to prevent ignition sources such as debris removal or spark detection and elimination, and regularly clean and maintain them, keeping relevant records.

What will happen if the dust explosion related enterprise does not comply with regulations and the safety production technology service agency issues a false report?

This issue is also clearly stated in the relevant laws of the Ministry of Emergency Management of the People's Republic of China, as excerpted below:

Article 29: If a dust explosion related enterprise violates the provisions of Article 14, Article 15, Article 16, Article 18, and Article 19 of these Regulations and constitutes a hidden danger of accidents, and fails to take measures to eliminate it, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Work Safety Law of the People's Republic of China, the department responsible for the safety supervision of dust explosion related enterprises shall order it to be eliminated immediately or within a time limit, and impose a fine of not more than 50000 yuan; Enterprises that refuse to comply shall be ordered to suspend production and business for rectification, and their directly responsible supervisors and other directly responsible personnel shall be fined between 50000 yuan and 100000 yuan; Those who commit crimes shall be held criminally responsible in accordance with relevant provisions of the Criminal Law.

Article 30: If a dust explosion related enterprise falls under any of the following circumstances, the department responsible for safety supervision of the dust explosion related enterprise shall order it to make corrections within a specified time limit, impose a fine of up to 30000 yuan, and impose a fine of up to 10000 yuan on its directly responsible supervisors and other directly responsible personnel:

（1） The safety facilities of new construction, renovation, and expansion projects of enterprises have not been designed for dust explosion prevention safety, or have not been constructed according to the design;

（2） Failure to establish a dust explosion prevention safety management system in accordance with regulations or content that does not conform to the actual situation of the enterprise;

（3） Failure to identify, evaluate, and control dust explosion safety risks in accordance with regulations, failure to establish a safety risk list, or failure to maintain relevant information files in a timely manner;

（4） Dust explosion-proof safety equipment is not functioning properly.

Article 31: If a safety production technology service institution accepts commission to carry out technical service work and issues false reports, it shall be ordered to suspend business for rectification in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Safety Production Law of the People's Republic of China, and shall be fined not less than 30000 yuan but not more than 100000 yuan; Those who cause harm to others shall bear compensation liability in accordance with the law.

If a safety production technology service institution accepts commission to carry out technical service work and issues false reports, its illegal gains shall be confiscated in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Safety Production Law of the People's Republic of China; For illegal gains of more than 100000 yuan, a fine of not less than 2 times but not more than 5 times the illegal gains shall be imposed; If there are no illegal gains or the illegal gains are less than 100000 yuan, a fine of not less than 100000 yuan but not more than 200000 yuan shall be imposed separately or concurrently; Impose a fine of no less than 50000 yuan and no more than 100000 yuan on the directly responsible supervisors and other directly responsible personnel; Those who cause damage to others shall bear joint and several liability for compensation with the dust explosion enterprise; Those who commit crimes shall be held criminally responsible in accordance with relevant provisions of the Criminal Law.

For safety production technology service institutions and their directly responsible personnel who commit the illegal acts mentioned in the preceding paragraph, their corresponding qualifications and qualifications shall be revoked, and they shall not engage in safety evaluation, certification, testing, inspection and other work for 5 years. If the circumstances are serious, they shall be banned from entering the industry and profession for life.

As we enter the autumn and winter season, atmospheric humidity will sharply drop. Nuocheng Safety reminds all relevant business friends to do a good job in dust explosion prevention safety. Nuocheng Safety provides dust explosion prevention compliance consulting and training services, and is also committed to promoting advanced dust explosion prevention safety technologies to enhance the industry's safety level. To better serve our customers, we have set up a service consultation hotline at 400-901-7907. We welcome new and old customers to call us for detailed inquiries, and we will arrange professional engineers to answer your questions.