Review of dust explosions

With the advent and consolidation of the ATEX directives over the last twenty years, explosion events have significantly reduced.

Improving process and worker safety conditions under regulatory pressure is certainly possible, but only in contexts where the presence of dangers is understood.

There are still several cases in which it is not understood that some substances can give rise to explosions, especially in the presence of combustible dust.

We propose a review of accident cases from the recent past, all studied during the analysis of expert technical consultancy, and for which the reconstruction can be said to be reliable.

Experience shows that the main primary causes that lead to explosions consist of not having adequately recognized some risk scenarios.

The assessment of risks from explosive atmospheres is not among the most widespread disciplines among workplace safety consultants, in many cases due to the preparation and responsibility involved in dealing with systems, calculation models and a broad framework of technical standards.

Learning from experience is a must, especially with agents of danger from explosive atmospheres, where the potential consequences can seriously threaten human life, production equipment or even just the business continuity of a company.