January 04, 2019

Silica, OSHA, Combustible Dust: Our Top 5 Articles of 2018

Categories: Combustible Dust Hazardous Dust Health and Safety

Happy New Year! 2018 was an eventful year, especially in the regulatory arena. In particular, OSHA’s new silica dust rule drastically reduced workers’ permissible exposure limit (PEL) for respirable crystalline silica. This topic, along with other regulatory issues, was reflected in the most popular content on our blog this year. In case you missed any of them, here are our top 5 articles of 2018.

1. Top 10 Vacuums for Silica Dust Applications

For many companies, complying with the new silica dust rule means investing in new vacuum equipment to capture and contain dust. But there’s no one-size-fits-all solution — what you need depends on several factors, including the tasks your workers are performing and the size of your facility. To help you find the right equipment, we put together this list of 10 top vacuums for silica dust applications. Read more.

2. Combustible Dust Incidents from 15 Industries

In our many years of talking with managers and executives in various industries, we’ve discovered that most people are unaware of the combustible dust risks in their facilities. The fact is that nearly every industrial processing plant contains combustible dust. Dust from food ingredients (e.g., flour, sugar, hops), metals (aluminum, magnesium, zinc), plastics (acrylamide, epoxy resin), and many other materials can become combustible under the right conditions. To drive this point home, we collected 15 examples of combustible dust incidents from different industries. Read more.

3. Silica Dust Compliance for General Industry Q&A

In the spring, we hosted a free webinar on how proactive housekeeping can help you achieve the lower PEL required by the new silica dust rule. The Q&A portion of the webinar generated excellent discussions surrounding several topics including the rule itself, HEPA filtration, and specific silica dust applications. Read more.

4. How Daylight Donuts Keeps Their Ingredient Production Facility Clean and Their Products Safe

Daylight Donuts is a successful small food company. Their central processing facility manufactures the ingredients used to make donuts at their nearly 500 retail outlets, which means thousands of pounds of flour, sugar, and other materials move through the plant every day. This presents significant cleaning challenges to prevent cross-contamination and keep workers safe. More than a decade ago, Daylight ditched their shop-style vacuum in favor of an industrial vacuum. This switch has helped them reduce downtime while also meeting stringent new food safety requirements. Read more.

5. OSHA’s Top 10 Violations for 2018 — and What Non-Compliance Will Cost You

OSHA inspections are increasing, as are the financial penalties for non-compliance. Every year, OSHA releases the top 10 violations. Here, we review the overall list as well as the top violations in four specific industries: construction, fabricated metal product manufacturing, food manufacturing, and pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing. Read more. Thank you for being a reader of our blog in 2018! We hope you’ll be back even more often this year.

January 04, 2019

Silica, OSHA, Combustible Dust: Our Top 5 Articles of 2018

1. Top 10 Vacuums for Silica Dust Applications

2. Combustible Dust Incidents from 15 Industries

3. Silica Dust Compliance for General Industry Q&A

4. How Daylight Donuts Keeps Their Ingredient Production Facility Clean and Their Products Safe

5. OSHA’s Top 10 Violations for 2018 — and What Non-Compliance Will Cost You

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