On-Demand Webinar: Dust Hazards
Simplified Mitigating Explosion Risks in Industrial Operations
10:00 AM (EDT) Thursday, May 22, 2025
A dust explosion requires five elements—fuel (dust), oxygen, confinement, dispersion, and an ignition source—commonly referred to as the dust explosion pentagon. When these elements align, the result can be extensive, this can be from operational downtime all the way to fatalities.
In this webinar, we will walk through the fundamentals of dust hazards, explaining how material characteristics, facility design, and process conditions influence the likelihood and severity of dust-related incidents. You’ll gain technical insights into identifying combustible dusts, assessing explosion potential, and evaluating the systems and practices needed to reduce risk.
We’ll also explore how formal risk assessments—such as Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA) and Hazardous Area Classification (HAC) – can support safe design and operational strategies across industries handling powders, granules, and other particulate solids.
What You’ll Learn in the Dust Hazards Webinar
- Dust Explosion Fundamentals: Review how the dust explosion pentagon—fuel, oxygen, ignition, confinement, and dispersion—applies to real-world processing scenarios, and how each element contributes to the escalation of an event.
- Identifying Combustible Dusts in the Workplace: Understand how to evaluate whether materials used in your facility pose a dust explosion hazard based on particle size, moisture content, and chemical composition.
- Combustibility and Explosibility Parameters: Learn how laboratory tests such as KSt, Pmax, and Minimum Ignition Energy (MIE), and Minimum Explosible Concentration (MEC) are used to characterize dust hazards and inform safety decisions. Energy (MIE), and Minimum Explosible Concentration (MEC) are used to characterize dust hazards and inform safety decisions.
- Applying Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA): Explore how DHA is used to identify high-risk areas, evaluate ignition sources, and develop mitigation strategies across handling, processing, and containment systems.
- Benefits on conducting a Hazardous Area Classification (HAC): Examine how HAC supports zoning decisions by categorizing spaces based on the presence of combustible dust, influencing equipment selection and control measures.
Who Should Attend the Webinar?
This session is intended for professionals involved in managing dust-generating processes across manufacturing, chemical, food, pharmaceutical, and metals industries. Suitable attendees include:
- Process Safety Engineers
- Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Specialists
- Operations and Plant Managers
- Maintenance and Engineering Supervisors
- Project and Facility Design Engineers
- Compliance and Risk Assessment Personnel
Whether you’re overseeing dust control programs, performing process design reviews, or conducting regulatory risk assessments, this webinar will provide a technical foundation for addressing combustible dust hazards in your facility.
Follow us on YouTube to explore our extensive library of on-demand webinars: https://www.youtube.com/@sigma-hse211
Register for free
Technical Speaker – Vinicius Simoes, Process Safety Consulting Lead
Vinicius Simoes, a Chemical Engineer with a Bachelor of Science degree from Universidade Federal Fluminense (2002) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, brings over 24 years of expertise in safety, engineering, and process safety. His extensive experience spans industries such as chemical processing, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, mining, and energy.
Vinicius excels at delivering customized solutions to meet complex process safety requirements. With a strong technical foundation and a collaborative approach, he has worked with clients across North and South America to mitigate risks, ensure regulatory compliance, and enhance operational safety in diverse industrial environments.
