WASHINGTON - Rafeal Moure-Eraso, chairman of the Chemical Safety Board, recently cited his disappointment that the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has yet to develop a standard to regulate combustible dust in manufacturing environments.

The drumbeat for creating a ComDust rule started up again with Wednesday’s release of the Chemical Safety Board’s (CSB) final investigation report on the three tragic fires/explosions at Hoeganaes’ powered metal plant in Gallatin, TN.

The primary problem is the status quo, warm, and fuzzy version of combustible dust is incorrectly communicated to stakeholders. This is not reality; the hazards are not solely dust explosions.

Last week's fatal explosion at a Chinese factory that makes Apple’s iPad2 thrust combustible dust onto the international stage of workplace safety concerns.

I can’t recall a month in my 25 years in which so many important industry issues made headlines as we witnessed in July.

WASHINGTON -- Imperial Sugar Co. will pay more than $6 million in fines stemming from the February 2008 fatal combustible dust explosion at its Port Wentworth, GA, plant and for subsequently discovered safety and health violations at is Gamercy, LA, facility.

Imperial Sugar Company’s (ISC) settlement with the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) now positions the company to focus even more on improving workplace safety and driving its best practices across the food-processing industry worldwide.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration today announced it has resolved litigation with Imperial Sugar Co. stemming from the February 2008 explosion at its Port Wentworth, Ga., plant and subsequently discovered safety and health violations at the company's Gramercy, La., facility.

SAVANNAH, GA – An independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission is scheduled to begin consideration of Imperial Sugar’s appeal of 212 safety citations and $8.8 million in fines on May 18. The citations and proposed fines were doled by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration out after the Feb. 7, 2008, sugar dust explosion that killed 14 people and injured dozens of others at the company’s Port Wentworth, GA, plant.

OSHA reissued the Combustible Dust National Emphasis Program in March 2008 following the fatal dust explosion and fire at the Imperial Sugar refinery Port Wentworth, GA. The blast killed 14 workers and injured 36, several with second- and third-degree burns.