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Union Calendar No. 374 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5522 

[Report No. 110–601] 

To require the Secretary of Labor to issue interim and final occupational 

safety and health standards regarding worker exposure to combustible 

dust, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 4, 2008 

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California (for himself and Mr. BARROW) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 

Labor 

APRIL 22, 2008 

Additional sponsors: Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mrs. DAVIS

of California, Mr. HARE, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. HOLT, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. 

KUCINICH, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, Ms. 

DELAURO, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. COURTNEY, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, 

Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. ANDREWS, Ms. 

HIRONO, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. CLARKE, Mr. 

YARMUTH, Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. WU, Mr. ALTMIRE, and 

Mr. SESTAK

APRIL 22, 2008 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 


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[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 4, 2008] 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Labor to issue interim and 

final occupational safety and health standards regarding 

worker exposure to combustible dust, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Combustible Dust Explo5 sion and Fire Prevention Act of 2008’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) An emergency exists concerning worker expo9 sure to combustible dust explosions and fires. 

10 (2) 13 workers were killed and more than 60 se11 riously injured in a catastrophic combustible dust ex12 plosion at Imperial Sugar in Port Wentworth, Geor13 gia on February 7, 2008. 

14 (3) Following 3 catastrophic dust explosions that 

15 killed 14 workers in 2003, the Chemical Safety and 

16 Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) issued a report in 

17 November 2006, which identified 281 combustible dust 

18 incidents between 1980 and 2005 that killed 119 


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1 workers and injured 718. The CSB concluded that 

2 ‘‘combustible dust explosions are a serious hazard in 

3 American industry’’. 

4 (4) A quarter of the explosions occurred at food 

5 industry facilities, including sugar plants. Seventy 

6 additional combustible dust explosions have occurred 

7 since 2005. 

8 (5) Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) often 

9 do not adequately address the hazards of combustible 

10 dusts, and the OSHA Hazard Communication Stand11 ard (HCS) inadequately addresses dust explosion haz12 ards and fails to ensure that safe work practices and 

13 guidance documents are included in MSDSs. 

14 (6) The CSB recommended that OSHA issue a 

15 standard designed to prevent combustible dust fires 

16 and explosions in general industry, based on current 

17 National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) dust ex18 plosion standards. 

19 (7) The CSB also recommended that OSHA re20 vise the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) 

21 (1910.1200) to clarify that combustible dusts are cov22 ered and that Material Safety Data Sheets contain 

23 information about the hazards and physical prop24 erties of combustible dusts. 


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1 (8) OSHA has not initiated rulemaking in re2 sponse to the CSB’s recommendation. 

3 (9) OSHA issued a grain handling facilities 

4 standard (29 C.F.R. 1910.272), in 1987 that has 

5 proven highly effective in reducing the risk of combus6 tible grain dust explosions, according to an OSHA 

7 evaluation. 

8 (10) No Occupational Safety and Health Admin9 istration standard comprehensively addresses combus10 tible dust explosion hazards in general industry. 

11 (11) Voluntary National Fire Protection Associa12 tion standards exist which, when implemented, effec13 tively reduce the likelihood and impact of combustible 

14 dust explosions. 

15 SEC. 3. ISSUANCE OF STANDARD ON COMBUSTIBLE DUST. 

16 (a) INTERIM STANDARD.— 

17 (1) APPLICATION AND RULEMAKING.—Notwith18 standing any other provision of law, not later than 

19 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

20 Secretary of Labor shall promulgate an interim final 

21 standard regulating combustible dusts. The interim 

22 final standard shall, at a minimum, apply to manu23 facturing, processing, blending, conveying, repack24 aging, and handling of combustible particulate solids 

25 and their dusts, including organic dusts (such as 


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1 sugar, candy, paper, soap, and dried blood), plastics, 

2 sulfur, wood, rubber, furniture, textiles, pesticides, 

3 pharmaceuticals, fibers, dyes, coal, metals (such as 

4 aluminum, chromium, iron, magnesium, and zinc), 

5 fossil fuels, and others determined by the Secretary, 

6 but shall not apply to processes already covered by 

7 OSHA’s standard on grain facilities (29 C.F.R. 

8 1910.272). 

9 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The interim final stand10 ard required under this subsection shall include the 

11 following: 

12 (A) Requirements for hazard assessment to 

13 identify, evaluate, and control combustible dust 

14 hazards. 

15 (B) Requirements for a written program 

16 that includes provisions for hazardous dust in17 spection, testing, hot work, ignition control, and 

18 housekeeping, including the frequency and meth19 od or methods used to minimize accumulations 

20 of combustible dust on ledges, floors, equipment, 

21 and other exposed surfaces. 

22 (C) Requirements for engineering, adminis23 trative controls, and operating procedures, such 

24 as means to control fugitive dust emissions and 

25 ignition sources, the safe use and maintenance of 


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1 dust producing and dust collection systems and 

2 filters, minimizing horizontal surfaces where 

3 dust can accumulate, and sealing of areas inac4 cessible to housekeeping. 

5 (D) Requirements for housekeeping to pre6 vent accumulation of combustible dust in places 

7 of employment in such depths that it can present 

8 explosion, deflagration, or other fire hazards, in9 cluding safe methods of dust removal. 

10 (E) Requirements for employee participa11 tion in hazard assessment, development of and 

12 compliance with the written program, and other 

13 elements of hazard management. 

14 (F) Requirements to provide written safety 

15 and health information and annual training to 

16 employees, including housekeeping procedures, 

17 hot work procedures, preventive maintenance 

18 procedures, common ignition sources, and lock19 out, tag-out procedures. 

20 (3) PROCEDURE.—The requirements in this sub21 section shall take effect without regard to the proce22 dural requirements applicable to regulations promul23 gated under section 6(b) of the Occupational Safety 

24 and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 655(b)) or the 


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1 procedural requirements of chapter 5 of title 5, 

2 United States Code. 

3 (4) EFFECTIVE DATE OF INTERIM STANDARD.— 

4 The interim final standard shall take effect 30 days 

5 after issuance. The interim final standard shall have 

6 the legal effect of an occupational safety and health 

7 standard, and shall apply until a final standard be8 comes effective under section 6 of the Occupational 

9 Safety and Health Act (29 U.S.C. 655). 

10 (b) FINAL STANDARD.— 

11 (1) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 18 months 

12 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

13 of Labor shall, pursuant to section 6 of the Occupa14 tional Safety and Health Act (29 U.S.C. 655), pro15 mulgate a final standard regulating combustible dust 

16 explosions. 

17 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The final standard re18 quired under this subsection shall include the fol19 lowing: 

20 (A) The scope described in subsection (a)(1). 

21 (B) The worker protection provisions in 

22 subsection (a)(2). 

23 (C) Requirements for managing change of 

24 dust producing materials, technology, equipment, 

25 staffing, and procedures. 


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1 (D) Requirements for building design such 

2 as explosion venting, ducting, and sprinklers. 

3 (E) Requirements for explosion protection, 

4 including separation and segregation of the haz5 ard. 

6 (F) Relevant and appropriate provisions of 

7 National Fire Protection Association combustible 

8 dust standards, including the ‘‘Standard for the 

9 Prevention of Fire and Dust Explosions from the 

10 Manufacturing, Processing, and Handling of 

11 Combustible Particulate Solids’’ (NFPA 654), 

12 ‘‘Standard for Combustible Metals’’ (NFPA 484), 

13 and ‘‘Standard for the Prevention of Fires and 

14 Dust Explosions in Agricultural and Food Proc15 essing Facilities’’ (NFPA 61). 

16 SEC. 4. REVISION OF THE HAZARD COMMUNICATION 

17 STANDARD. 

18 (a) REVISION REQUIRED.—Notwithstanding any other 

19 provision of law, not later than 6 months after the date 

20 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall revise 

21 the hazard communication standard in section 1910.1200 

22 of title 29, Code of Federal Regulations, by amending the 

23 definition of ‘‘physical hazard’’ in subsection (c) of such 

24 section to include ‘‘a combustible dust’’ as an additional 

25 example of such a hazard. 


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1 (b) EFFECT OF MODIFICATIONS.—The modification 

2 under this section shall be in force until superseded in whole 

3 or in part by regulations promulgated by the Secretary of 

4 Labor under section 6(b) of the Occupational Safety and 

5 Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 655(b)) and shall be enforced 

6 in the same manner and to the same extent as any rule 

7 or regulation promulgated under section 6(b). 

8 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The modification to the hazard 

9 communication standard required shall take effect within 

10 30 days after the publication of the revised rule. 


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Union Calendar No. 374 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5522 

[Report No. 110

–601] 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Labor to issue interim 

dust, and for other purposes. ards regarding worker exposure to combustible and final occupational safety and health standAPRIL 22, 2008 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS