In today’s episode of the Dust Safety Science podcast, we’re talking about the importance of having multiple viewpoints and partnerships when performing your DHA, or dust hazard analysis.
To do that, we speak with Chrissy Klocker, Applications Engineering Manager at Donaldson based in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Tim Heneks, Director of Engineering Services at Dustcon Solutions, based out of West Palm Beach, Florida. Together, Chrissy and Tim answer questions like the following:
- When is it good to have multiple viewpoints?
- When is this partnership process advantageous?
- How do you assemble this type of partnership?
When is It Good to Have Multiple Viewpoints?
Tim said that having multiple viewpoints is always a good practice.
“In particular, we see it mostly in the design phase or desktop DHA work where the design is still fluid to some extent, and there needs to be input both from the end user who knows what they need and want out of the system, the engineering firm or the vendors or the equipment manufacturers who are developing and designing the equipment and the systems and how everything’s going to piece together, the DHA consultant who’s being brought in to ensure that everything’s staying inside the boundaries or inside the compliance lines from an NFPA or an insurance perspective.”
He added that while he sees this multi-view approach a lot in retroactive DHA situations where there’s a particularly specialized system or piece of equipment, he feels that it’s the most valuable with new systems.
“We’ve got all of these design options on the table, and understanding both from the compliance and safety side what’s going to be best for us in that perspective, but also working iteratively with the designers and the engineers who are pulling together the design into the larger picture. I’m usually focused on a pretty narrow slice of the larger project, and so having a partnership amongst however many parties are involved becomes extremely important in that respect.”
Chrissy pointed out that dust collectors in particular are simply a component to a local exhaust ventilation system.
“When you’re going through and designing one of those systems, you’re trying to achieve some sort of performance objective – whether it’s to capture this dust or to remove this hazard… Whether it’s a design phase or for a system that’s already installed, it’s really important to understand how the mitigation choices will impact that overall system design.”
She explained that having someone who looks at it from the risk standpoint and understands the implications of those different strategies to the overall dust collection system is really a critical role because you don’t want to buy all of this equipment if it’s not going to be suitable for what you actually need in the field.
When is This Partnership Process Advantageous?
Tim answered this question with an example.
“If we’re working with a client who already has a dust collector Chrissy’s team has designed and sold, I would ask, “Do you guys have any documentation on this thing?” They probably don’t always have the explosion vent calculations that were provided at the time of installation, right? As a consultant, it is so advantageous for me to call her and say, “Hey, Chrissy, we’ve got this PO number and we’ve got this client and what do you need from us in order to get us this information that we need?” It really does cut through some of the communication barriers that might exist if the client were to go to whoever sold them the equipment. And then they go to the dealer, and the dealer goes to the rep, and then the rep goes to the engineering team.”
Chrissy agreed, pointing out that she didn’t think having a dust collection manufacturer or someone who is knowledgeable about the system is always top of mind when doing the risk assessment.
“NFPA put a lot of emphasis on having someone who’s qualified in the NFPA standards and the risk assessment, so it can sometimes get lost to someone who’s knowledgeable about the equipment and the process.”
She explained that in many cases, the first opportunity they get to show the value of a holistic view is after customers have gone through a risk assessment with a third party. The client will present the recommendations and ask about implementing them. After a close review, Chrissy and her team will respond that based on the recommendations or the technology, the solution may not work with the client’s equipment.
“Rather than having the customer apply a mitigation strategy that’s not necessarily appropriate, we’ll get on the phone with the customer and probably the risk assessment company and talk through it with the goal of identifying alternative strategies that may work.
“That’s where partnership really shows its importance – because you get, you end up with a solution that the customers are willing to accept, it’s good with the risk assessment company, and it makes sense for the performance of the dust collection system and design and everything with that.”
How Do You Assemble This Type of Partnership?
“Sometimes you don’t necessarily know where to start,” Tim conceded. “If I’m looking at a dryer design by a company I’ve never really worked with before, I need new information about it, and I don’t have direct contact, I go to the website, dial the main number, and say, “Hey, I need to speak to somebody in Engineering who deals with this particular technology or application. Sometimes you’ll get somebody on the other end of the phone that’s really helpful and can nurture a relationship that will serve you well in the future.”
Chrissy agreed.
“We have our list of recommended people. We want to make sure that we’re also connecting customers with reputable companies. We’re not going to recommend Joe Blow and his garage because we don’t understand if he’s qualified or not. So we do that. But we also allow end users to make their own decision. They can choose whomever they want. They can do whatever they want. But in my eyes, you get what you pay for. And I think nothing stands out more than just a personal recommendation. Whether it’s DHAs or whether it’s mitigation equipment, we want to make sure that we’re using good partners who we understand their knowledge, and expertise, like where they can play a good role.”
Conclusion
At the end of the interview, Tim said that the most important factor in DHAs is getting the right expertise in place. One of his clients had a DHA performed and engaged what they thought was a reputable engineering firm to do the necessary hazard classification work for them. As it turned out, that firm didn’t have the answers to questions that would be asked by the code official.
“All of a sudden, you’re making 11th hour changes, swapping from explosion venting to suppression because you didn’t take the flame ball path into consideration. Involving the right people from the start and anticipating what shortfalls you might have in the future will make it so much smoother for you on the back-end. [As] Chrissy said, in a lot of cases you get what you pay for.”
If you would like to discuss further, leave your thoughts in the comments section below. You can also reach Tim Heneks and Chrissy Klocker directly:
Tim Heneks:
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothyheneks/
Website: https://dustconsolutions.com/
Chrissy Klocker:
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissy-klocker-5143666/
Website: https://www.donaldson.com/en-us/
If you have questions about the contents of this or any other podcast episode, you can go to our ‘Questions from the Community’ page and submit a text message or video recording. We will then bring someone on to answer these questions in a future episode.
Resources mentioned
Dust Safety Science
Combustible Dust Incident Database
Dust Safety Science Podcast
Questions from the Community
Dust Safety Academy
Dust Safety Professionals
Dust Safety Share
Companies
Donaldson
Dustcon Solutions
Organizations
NFPA
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