House Votes to Protect Workers from Dust Explosions at Industrial Work Sites
Legislation Would Help Prevent Disasters like February Tragedy in Georgia that Killed 13 Workers

Tuesday, April 30, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation today to help prevent combustible dust explosions like the one at the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Georgia, on February 7 that killed 13 workers and injured more than 60 others.

By a 247 to 165 vote, the Worker Protection against Combustible Dust Explosions and Fires Act (H.R. 5522), introduced by U.S. Reps. George Miller (D-CA) and John Barrow (D-GA), would force the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue rules regulating combustible industrial dusts, like sugar dust, that can build up to hazardous levels and explode. While OSHA already has the authority to issue such a rule without Congress passing new legislation, the agency has failed to act despite the fact that the dangers of combustible dust have been well known for years.

“Sadly, even after 13 avoidable deaths in Georgia, OSHA has demonstrated little sense of urgency in addressing the deadly dangers of combustible dust. By passing this legislation today, Congress is taking the first step toward doing what OSHA should have done years ago,” said Miller, chairman of the Education and Labor Committee. “The bottom line is that workers need basic protections on the job, but the agency established by Congress 37 years ago to protect workers has failed, once again, to provide those protections. The House showed today that if OSHA won’t act, we will.”

“I am proud to be a co-sponsor of this bill and want to commend Chairman Miller and Representative Barrow for introducing it,” said Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), chair of the Subcommittee on Workplace Protections.  “Unfortunately, the recent explosion at the Imperial Sugar Company, like so many other workplace incidents that have occurred lately, could have been prevented. That is why we in Congress need to act now.”

“These rules are long overdue. It’s a testament to what can happen when government, industry, and stakeholders work together to come up with commonsense safety regulations that actually protect workers” said Barrow. “When it comes to safety, we can’t afford to sit around and wait to act. If we wait, this will happen again. We owe it to the victims of February’s tragedy to prevent that.”

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board, which has launched a major investigation of the Imperial Sugar explosion, has concluded that the explosion was caused by combustible sugar dust. In 2006, following a series of fatal combustible dust explosions, the CSB conducted a major study of combustible dust hazards. It identified 281 combustible dust incidents between 1980 and 2005 that killed 119 workers, injured 718 others, and extensively damaged industrial facilities. The CSB, whose members were appointed by President Bush, found no comprehensive OSHA rules that effectively control the risk of industrial dust explosions and recommended that OSHA issue a standard.

The Worker Protection against Combustible Dust Explosions and Fires Act would address these hazards by:

• Directing OSHA to issue interim rules on combustible dust within 90 days. The rules would include measures to minimize hazards associated with combustible dust through improved housekeeping, engineering controls, worker training and a written combustible dust safety program; 

• Directing OSHA to issue final rules within eighteen months. The rules would be based on effective voluntary standards devised by the National Fire Protection Association, a nonprofit organization. In addition to items required in the interim rules, the final rules would include requirements for building design and explosion protection. The interim rules would remain in effect until the final rules are issued; and

• Directing OSHA to revise the Hazard Communication Standard, which warns workers of potential on-the-job hazards, to include combustible dusts.

When dust builds up to dangerous levels in industrial worksites, it can become fuel for fires and explosions. Combustible dust can come from many sources, such as sugar, flour, feed, plastics, wood, rubber, furniture, textiles, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, dyes, coal, and metals, and therefore poses a risk across a number of different industries throughout the United States. 

For more information on H.R. 5522, click here. 

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