In this episode of the DustSafetyScience Podcast, we are interviewing Jay Juvenal, sales engineer at CV Technology in Jupiter, Florida, about dust explosion prevention and protection in Brazil.
When Jason Krbec was interviewed in Episode #67, he recommended that dust explosion prevention and protection in Brazil be covered in a future episode, so Jay came on the podcast to talk about the subject.
As a sales engineer with CV Technology, he spends about half his time in the emerging markets in Central and South America, where he seeks to spread awareness of combustible dust hazards and bring clients into compliance with applicable regulatory standards by providing explosion protection solutions.
In today’s episodes, Jay answers the following questions:
- What is the current status of regulations within Brazil?
- How is combustible dust treated within this framework?
- What industries does CV Technology work with in Brazil?
- What are some challenges to combustible dust safety in South America?
What is the Current Status of Regulations Within Brazil?
Jay explained that in Brazil, there are safety regulations similar to those in North America. Its version of NFPA is called ABNT, which regulates everything from residential fire sprinklers to industrial spark detection.
“When we first started doing business down in Brazil several years ago, there was a new ABNT committee that was formed, ABNT 080, that was strictly dedicated to combating combustible dust hazards,” he said. “Things were progressing. I sat on the committee as well as the people from the industry. We were getting a new document published. But I think what happened was funding dried up. And so the committee ceased to meet and the document never actually got published officially.”
In the absence of a local standard, local companies started varying in their observance of regulations. Large multinational companies operating in Brazil typically followed whatever their home country observed. For U.S. companies, it would be NFPA while European companies observed ATEX. Brazilian companies followed what Jay called a “mixed bag.”
“I think where the largest safety gap seems to be and one of the biggest hurdles to get over as well,” he added.
When new plants are being built, companies like CV Technology work with OEMs, who appear to have a certain level of awareness and adherence to standards for combustible dust. For existing facilities, there seems to be little to no enforcement.
How is Combustible Dust Treated Within this Framework?
In response to this question, Jay said, “It’s really lacking at this stage.” He reiterated that the big multinational companies building plants in Brazil tend to observe their own corporate standards while with Brazilian-owned companies, it was “really kind of a crapshoot whether they’re going to follow NFPA, ATEX.”
When these companies speak to Jay or another CV Technology representative, they are always advised to follow the 2018 edition of NFPA 68. However, if they are speaking to a consultant who isn’t current with the standards or an EP vendor from Europe, they might get different directions.
“It’s hard enough in the U.S. just sifting through NFPA. When you throw in all these other international standards, it can get complex,” Jay said.
What are the Challenges to Combustible Dust Safety in South America?
When asked whether there were differences between the South American countries regarding combustible dust safety and regulations, Jay replied that the situation was the same across the board.
“It’s just that Brazil is the behemoth down there. (It is) several times larger than any of those other economies, so they have bigger food production facilities, but it’s pretty much about the same story elsewhere as well.”
One of the biggest challenges he runs across is the language barrier. “I’ll give you a little anecdote. The word ‘flameless vent’ doesn’t really exist in Portuguese. Even when I’m working with my colleague here who is from Brazil and speaks Portuguese, he’s going to have to go through several iterations before someone grasps what it is. Same with chemical suppression. Those aren’t words that, you know, are readily used in some of these areas.”
Jay divided the safety challenge problem into five parts.
1. Awareness
Even in North America, not everyone understands how dangerous combustible dust is. Jay admitted walking into some facilities in Brazil where he genuinely feared for his life.
“We walked into one of the biggest pet food production facilities in Brazil and a worker was hand-feeding a bucket elevator with grains that had just been milled. So we’re talking very fine dust. As he was dumping it, he was completely engulfed in a cloud of dust, and not 15 feet away from him was a guy doing hot work on a piece of production equipment. Welding arc fully available. So, you know, that’s just an anecdotal example of the problem with awareness.
2. Enforcement
In North America, an omnipresent fear of OSHA exists. Local authorities will go into a facility and either write a citation or take an even more punitive measure to protect the workers at the facility. This level of oversight and regulation does not exist in Brazil.
3. Regulations
There is no unified regulation in Brazil. Jay called it a “spaghetti of regulations.” It’s difficult to determine which one to follow when NFPA, ABNT, and ATEX all have a presence.
4. Taxes
“If you ever talk to any OEM trying to do work on Brazil, they’ll tell you that it’s extremely difficult,” Jay said. “And the number one reason is the tariff issue.”
Brazil is a very protected economy. Taxes can be anywhere from 75% up to 100% of the purchase prince, depending on the product, the service, and the importer used, which deters importation. If a product is sold for $5,000, the company purchasing it could end up paying over $10,000 because of the tariffs.
5. The Economy
Brazil is still an emerging economy, and spending money on importing explosion protection equipment is a hard pill to swallow when a lot of these companies are just doing their best to stay afloat. This is a challenge that other countries are facing as well.
Conclusion
Jay emphasized the importance of using explosion protection solutions that are appropriate from a financial as well as practical standpoint. Education is key to their widespread adoption in Brazil.
“Half my job is educating people on what’s required. But we’re always available to do that: to bring awareness.”
If you would like to discuss further, leave your thoughts in the comments section below. You can also reach Jay Juvenal directly:
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-juvenal-92987675/
Website: https://cvtechnology.com/
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
The resources mentioned in this episode are listed below.
DustSafetyScience
Combustible Dust Incident Database
DustSafetyScience Podcast
Questions from the Community
2020 Digital Dust Safety Conference
Companies
CV Technology
Standards
NFPA 68
Previous Podcasts
DSS067: Passive Explosion Mitigation Through Deflagration Venting with Jason Krbec
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DSS072: Dust Explosion Prevention and Protection in Brazil with Jay Juvenal
