Lee Sargent Interview...Q & A on NFPA 61 Fire Protection Standard

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) last year released a new edition of its NFPA 61: Standard for the Prevention of Fire and Dust Explosions in Agricultural and Food Products Facilities.

The standard serves as a guide to grain handling facility managers on proper design to prevent grain dust explosions and fires.

However, that�s not the last word on the standard. NFPA 61 is a work in progress. Grain Journal in November contacted Lee Sargent, president of Todd & Sargent Inc., Ames, IA (515-232-0442/www.tsargent.com), and chairman of the Technical Committee on Agricultural Dusts, which advises the NFPA on the standard, for an update on the ongoing work.

Copies of NFPA 61 are available for a nominal fee from NFPA. P.O. Box 9010, Quincy, MA 02269-9101; phone: 800-344-3555; web site: www. nfpa.org.

What has been the grain industry�s reaction to the July 1999 revisions to NFPA 61?

I haven�t heard very much reaction from the industry. There were a few comments concerning changes as to the location of explosion venting of bucket elevators. However, the 1999 revisions focused only on adding drawings to clarify the language on leg venting from the 1995 edition.

What issues remain to be resolved in the standard?

There will always be issues that need to be discussed. However, there is also the philosophy of cost vs. benefit, which affects the committee.

Some major proposals under consideration for the present revision of the standard, which is due for completion in 2002, include:

� Returning collected dust to the grain system, which is presently allowed under NFPA 61 8-3.2.

� Changing the definition of an �outside bucket elevator,� currently in NFPA 61 1-4, to make it the same as the definition used by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

� Preventing the use of interbin venting, which currently is allowed.

� Changing the location of leg casing explosion vents from the side to the front of the leg.

� Requiring lightning protection systems, which currently are not required.

� Reviewing and updating Chapter 4, including Table A4-2.1, �Explosion Prevention, Relief, and Venting.�

How likely is it that all of these issues will be resolved by the 2002 deadline?

I am quite certain that all of these issues and others will be resolved for the next edition. The process requires that the NFPA 61 committee consider all proposals and either accept, accept in principle, reject, or hold for further study. Then, a substantiation is written to explain the committee�s reasoning.

What are the next steps in the process?

Any interested person can submit one or more proposals to NFPA until Jan. 5, 2001. They should be sent to Amy Spencer, NFPA 61 Staff Liaison, National Fire Protection Association, 1 Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA 02269-9101.

An NFPA 61 Committee meeting will be held in February 2001, and a report of that meeting will be published in July 2001. Comments about that published report can be submitted until Oct. 5, 2001. A report on the comments then will be published in April 2002, and the new NFPA 61 standard will be released in July 2002.

The process takes 104 weeks from start to end.

What actions should individual elevator managers take in anticipation of any further revisions to NFPA 61?

I don�t know of anything that an elevator manager needs to do now in anticipation of future revisions to NFPA 61. Existing facilities are not intended to comply with future standards, which apply to new construction.

In terms of compliance with the standard at the country elevator level, are there any issues of concern where elevators generally aren�t meeting the standard?

I�m not sure how many country elevator operators are aware of NFPA 61. That�s why I appreciate the opportunity to talk with you about NFPA 61.

Back to your question, some of the operations issues addressed in the standard that should be of interest to elevator managers include:

� Emergency Preplanning (Section 10-5).

� Hot Work (Sections 11-2 and 11-3).

� Smoking (Section 11-6).

� Outside Contractors (Section 11-8).

Written by Ed Zdrojeski, editor.