Case No.2
Paper dust ignited during repair work in milling room
of a paper manufacturing plant
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[Circumstances of Incident]
The accident occurred in the process of tissue milling and
winding rolls (an intermediate product) in a paper manufacturing
plant.
Following the instructions of an
operations chief to replace the cutter edge used to peel raw paper from
the paper mill dryer, the victim turned on the switch to rotate the
cylinder by compressed air and cut the raw paper by means of the cutter
edge.
When the victim next tried to turn on
another switch to start positioning the cutter edge, accumulated paper
dust in a dust-collecting system located between the dryer exit and the
winding roll suddenly ignited, injuring the victim by the blast and heat
from the flare-up.
Resulting fire was fed
by floating dust particles (dust cloud) in the air and spread throughout
the entire paper milling room.
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[Causes]
The following can be
cited as the causes of this accident.
1.
Ignition causes (1) Ignition of a paper dust
layer at a law temperature (2) Contact sparks
from the dryer (3) Friction sparks from the
nozzle and chain of the dust collecting system (4) Sparks due to static electricity
2.Concentration of dust, etc. (1)The
room humidity was partly below 15 percent. (2)The dust-collecting system was designed to release a large
part of collected air after filtering. (3)The
dust-collecting method and capabilities were inadequate, considering the
accumulated dust in the duct of the
system
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[Type of business]
Pulp/paper manufacturing [Type of accident]Explosion [Number of victims] One
injured (not involving any absence from
work) |