Risk-based design of safety measures to prevent and mitigate dust explosion hazards

Dust explosion is one of the main threats to equipment safety and human health in industries. Complex factors leading to accidents, serious consequences, and relevant safety measures are the main interests of governmental agencies, researchers, and industrial companies. However, a generic risk analysis model for dust explosions is absent. The bow-tie model can be used to investigate the relationships among basic causes, safety barriers, and possible consequences of an accident scenario. In this paper, a framework is established for quantitative risk assessment of dust explosions based on bow-tie analysis via review and analysis of previous major dust explosions. A large inventory of relevant safety measures is presented, and the implementation and efficacy of such safety measures to reduce the risk of dust explosions is thoroughly discussed. Finally, the methodology is applied to a case study. The results show that the generic bow-tie developed in this study can be tailored to a wide variety of dust explosion accident scenarios with minimal manipulation; also, implementation of relevant safety measures can significantly reduce the risk of dust explosions. © 2013 American Chemical Society.