The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board is gathering information on management and control of combustible dust as part of its investigation into a fatal mill explosion in May 2017.

In 2006, the board identified 281 combustible dust incidents that occurred between 1980 and 2005, leading to 119 worker fatalities, 718 more workers injured and extensive damage to industrial facilities, according to a board statement released Wednesday.

“Our dust investigations have identified the understanding of dust hazards and the ability to determine a safe dust level in the workplace as common challenges,” Kristen Kulinowski, the CSB’s interim executive, said Wednesday in a statement. “While there is a shared understanding of the hazards of dust, our investigations have found that efforts to manage those hazards have often failed to prevent a catastrophic explosion.”

Since the publication of the 2006 study, the board has confirmed an additional 105 combustible dust incidents and conducted in-depth investigations of five, including most recently the Didion Milling Inc. dust explosion in Cambria, Wisconsin, that fatally injured five workers and demolished the milling facility. 

“Our investigation of the Didion incident continues, and we are analyzing evidence to understand the specifics leading up to the tragic event,” CSB investigator Cheryl MacKenzie said in the statement. “However, this investigation reinforces what we are seeing across many industries — that there needs to be a more inclusive approach to creating and maintaining a safe work environment amid processes that inherently produce dust.”

The initiative asks for information from all individuals and entities involved in the safe conduct of work within inherently dust-producing environments at risk for dust explosions, according to the statement. The board is seeking input on issues such as recognizing and measuring “unsafe” levels of dust in the workplace; managing responsibilities and expectations that sometimes are at odds with each other, such as performing mechanical integrity preventive maintenance while simultaneously striving to minimize dust releases in the work environment; and the methods for communicating the low-frequency but high-consequence hazards of combustible dust in actionable terms for those working and overseeing these environments.

Comments can be emailed to combustibledust@csb.gov until Nov. 26.

The board will use the information provided to explore new opportunities for safety improvements, according to the statement.

The CSB has issued four recommendations to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration calling for the issuance of a comprehensive general industry standard for combustible dust, but there is no such standard to date.