How to prevent dust explosions...

Joe Kaulfersch of Pepperl+Fuchs tried to post as a comment a white paper that he wrote on preventing just the sort of dust explosion that we all theorize might have caused the disaster at the Imperial Sugar Dixie Crystals plant near Savannah, Georgia last Thursday. I asked him to send me the white paper instead, and rather than post it as a very wordy and difficult to read comment, I posted the white paper to the ControlGlobal.com white paper library. Here's the URL of this excellent discussion of what we should be doing in any silo or area where explosive dust can concentrate: http://www.controlglobal.com/whitepapers/2008/022.html Assuming for the moment that a dust explosion really was the cause of the Dixie Crystals disaster, as automation professionals and workers in the process industries, we should, I think, feel more than a little responsible. As Joe's white paper shows, the way to prevent this kind of accident is not only known, but required in agricultural silos...and companies, unions, and individuals could do a lot more to make sure those people in Savannah didn't die in vain.