By Beeta Lashkari and Valerie Butera

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has changed the way industries manage combustible dust and particulate solid hazards by replacing six separate combustible dust standards with one consolidated and streamlined scheme. Effective December 6, 2024, NFPA 660: Standard for Combustible Dusts and Particulate Solids is intended to eliminate variability across previous standards, providing industries with clearer and more consistent guidelines to managing combustible dust hazards. Below we provide an overview of combustible dusts, a description of the new standard, a summary of the ways in which combustible dust hazards are managed by regulators like OSHA and the CSB, as well as employer takeaways.

Overview of Combustible Dusts

As we explained in our webinar, broadly, combustible dusts are finely divided combustible particulate solid that presents a flash fire hazard or explosion hazard when suspended in air under certain conditions. Combustible dusts can include dusts of grains, sugar, corn starch, cotton, metals, pharmaceuticals, plastics, carbon, and wood, among others. Given the wide range of dusts that might be combustible, it is not surprising that numerous industries are affected by combustible dust hazards, including, but not limited to, chemical manufacturing, food products, metal industries, rubber and plastic products, equipment manufacturing, lumber and wood products, etc.

Although combustible dust incidents may Continue reading →

ANNOUNCING CONN MACIEL CAREY LLP’S
2023 OSHA WEBINAR SERIES

Two years into the Biden Administration, with senior political leadership now firmly entrenched at federal OSHA, the agency is making good on its promise to “use all of the tools available” in its regulatory and enforcement toolbox to protect workers. In part, that has taken the form of increasingly aggressive enforcement (more inspections, more significant penalties, etc.), hiring more compliance officers, launching new special emphasis enforcement programs, and expanding its enforcement policies like its Severe Violator Enforcement Program. It has also taken the form of a broad-based rulemaking agenda that includes work on a new heat illness rule, pushing out a permanent COVID-19 standard for healthcare, expanding its E-Recordkeeping requirements, among other high priority rulemakings.

Accordingly, it is more important now than ever before for employers to stay attuned to developments at OSHA. To help you do so, Conn Maciel Carey LLP is pleased to present our complimentary 2023 OSHA Webinar Series, which includes monthly programs (sometimes more often, if events warrant) put on by the OSHA-specialist attorneys in the firm’s national OSHA Practice Group. The webinar series is designed to arm employers with the insight into developments at OSHA that they need during this period of unpredictability and significant change.

To register for an individual webinar in the series, click on the link in the program description below, or to register for the entire 2023 series, click here to send us an email request so we can get you registered. If you missed any of our programs over the past eight years of our annual OSHA Webinar Series, here is a link to a library of webinar recordings. If your organization or association would benefit from an exclusive program presented by our team on any of the subjects in this year’s webinar series or any other important OSHA-related topic, please do not hesitate to contact us.

2022 Year in Review and 2023 Forecast

Thursday, January 26th

Mid–Year Review of OSHA Developments

Thursday, July 20^th

Annual Cal/OSHA Update

Thursday, February 16^th

OSH State Plan Update

Thursday, August 10^th

Responding to Whistleblower Complaints

Tuesday, March 21^st

Powered Industrial Trucks

Thursday, September 14^th