Manufacturers Receive Training About Combustible Dusts Through OSHA Grant

An Occupational Safety and Health Administration grant is funding worker safety training about combustible dust for businesses in rural Wisconsin.

Data from OSHA’s website shows more than 400 combustible dust explosions have occurred since 1980. More than 100 workers have died from explosions, according to a 2006 report from the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.

The Northwest Wisconsin Concentrated Employment Program is receiving around $113,000 to offer training to manufacturers on identifying and preventing hazards dust-related hazards. Carrie Okey, who is managing the grant, said the program visits work sites across 77 counties in Wisconsin, northeastern Minnesota and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

“Instead of stopping production and sending people 100 to 200 miles away for a training or even having to pay somebody from 200 miles away to do the training, we wanted to put ourselves out there and provide a service that rural areas may not have,” said Okey.

Okey said they’ve given training to 1,000 workers in the wood products and manufacturing industry: “It’s everyone from the housekeeping staff to the supervisors to the owners,” said Okey.