The Ingenieur Vol 59 July-Sept 2014 The Ingenieur Vo. 59, July-Sept 2014 | Page 20

INGENIEUR

Photo 2.0: The crawler’s lattice boom structure failed and landed on the car.

Safe engineering practices on the machine,
structures and component bearing loads and
safety engineered devices would have confined or
localized the failure. Undertaking safe engineering
practices ensures that the design and condition for
the repairs of the machine have been exhaustively
examined, checked and validated within the required
regulations, standards and code of practices and
documented repair procedure. Ageing assessment
of plant and equipment in use if properly managed
will ensure their continued strength and integrity.
Also, any machine equipped with an electrical
or electronic device that signals a machine to stop
or an interlock should be examined and signed off
by an authorized person or Professional Engineer
(PE) as is practiced in some countries.

Combustible dust explosions
The safety of such hazardous plant or product
begins with the planning stage covering design,
installation, hazards and risks analysis to the
usage of appropriate non-explosion safety devices
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compliance to standards, proper earthing and
bonding systems, and appropriate management,
use and maintenance of the system by competent
and trained personnel.
The real point of these incidents, ranging from
grain dust (wheat, corn) to metallic (aluminium)
and wood dusts that have occurred in Malaysia
at regular intervals, requires all engineering
professionals to know all that needs to be
known about the presence of combustible dusts
that exist in the industrial environment. Photo
3.0 shows a typical combustible dust explosion
that happened in a factory in Penang involved
in processing magnesium stearate (MgSt) and
zinc stearate(ZnSt) materials. The explosion and
ensuing fire caused widespread and heavy damage
to the factory’s processing plant with the loss of
three lives and serious injuries to two workers.
Stringent fire safety engineering as per local
fire regulations includes installation of fire-fighting
systems, providing adequate means of escape,
and fire detection and warning methods. Such
combustible dust installations, with a high risk

VOL 59 JULY –2013
VOL 55 JUNE SEPTEMBER 2014

7/9/14 10:37 AM