In this episode of the DustSafetyScience Podcast, we review the top five questions about the upcoming 2020 Digital Dust Safety Conference, which runs from February 24-27. We’ve been getting a ton of great feedback, along with different questions about the event, so we decided to dedicate this episode to the five questions people have been asking the most.
1. What if I can’t make the live conference presentations?
We have presenters and attendees across multiple time zones, and many people worry about missing a presentation. Don’t worry- everything is going to be recorded and made available through the conference platform for six months afterwards.
We still encourage you to register because you can see all the replays and even interact with the speakers by tagging them inside the conference platform. You can also join the discussions about the different presentations in the community forum.
1. What can I expect from the event? What topics and speakers are involved?
The industrial training part of the conference runs for two full days, and each day has two tracks.
Day One
The first day is dedicated to hazard analysis and identification and system design. In the morning we have presentations on the following:
- An introduction to NFPA 652 and dust hazard analysis by David Hakes from XP Products.
- The differences between global approaches to hazard analysis by Jef Snoeys from Fike.
- The differences between prescriptive and performance-based DHAs by DEKRA.
We also have a track dedicated to powder handling system designs and their combustible dust safety considerations. These systems include bucket elevators, storage silos, and dust collectors.
There will be a North American and an international track for case studies and examples. In the North American track, Chris Giusto from Hallam-ICS will be talking about challenges in retrofitting explosion protection in an existing facility, and a testing presentation will be given by Martin Clouthier from Jensen Hughes. In the international track, there will be a presentation on lessons learned from global plan inspections by REMBE and a presentation on international Ex facility assessment and certification by Arpad Veress from ExNB.
Day Two
Day Two is dedicated to explosion prevention and protection methods and dust control, collection and cleaning. Presentation topics include:
- The use of fan systems to control fugitive dust accumulations, presented by Jordan Newton from SonicAire.
- Oxygen reduction in inerting systems by Dr. Ashok Dastidar from Fauske & Associates.
- Traditional and non-traditional explosion venting options by CV Technology.
- Comparing NFPA 68 to EN 14491 requirements for venting by REMBE.
We have some great keynotes as well. NFPA signed up for a keynote on updates to the combustible dust standards and regulatory guidelines. (This year the DHA requirement goes into effect through NFPA 652.) The National Grain and Feed Association will be talking about its successes in educating their industries and implementing the grain handling standard, and how that whole process has transpired over the last several decades.
In terms of the research conference, which takes place on days three and four, we’re still working on that. We have about half of the presenters lined up and are shooting for another 32 presentations.
3. Are there any more presentation slots available?
Industry presentations are currently full, but there may be research presentation opportunities available for universities, industry groups, and even individual companies. Even if you are unable to present, you can still sign up for general admission and interact with presenters and community members in the forum.
4. What if my research is incomplete?
One question we’ve been getting a lot from the research community is “What if I don’t know whether my research will be complete?”
Research presentations aren’t limited to work that has already been published. You can also present on work in progress and possibly connect with people who could be involved in directing and helping with your research in the future. The overall goal with these presentations is to inspire information exchange between industry attendees and researchers.
5. How can I support the conference?
We’ve got a lot of people ask what they can do to promote the event. The first thing you can do is email people who might be interested and tell them what the event is about. Tell them that it’s about supporting combustible dust safety by connecting industry experts and researchers and encouraging education and training. Send them the link to the 2020 Digital Dust Safety Conference site and encourage them to register. You can also share the conference details on social media.
Conclusion
We’re really hoping for a big turnout at the conference so that we can push our mission to increase awareness, education, connection and change in industries handling combustible dust. Your support is sincerely appreciated, and we hope to see you there!
If you would like to discuss further, leave your thoughts in the comments section below. 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
DustSafetyScience:
Combustible Dust Incident Database
DustSafetyScience Podcast
Questions from the Community
2020 Digital Dust Safety Conference
Companies:
CV Technology
DEKRA
ExNB
Fauske & Associates
Fike
Hallam-ICS
Jensen Hughes
National Grain and Feed Association
REMBE
SonicAire
XP Products
Standards:
NFPA 652
NFPA 654
NFPA 68
Thanks for Listening!
To share your thoughts:
- Leave a note in the comment section below
- Ask a question to be answered on the show
- Share this episode on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook
To help out the show:
- Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes
- Leave a review and rate our show in iTunes to help the podcast reach more people
Download the Episode
DSS060: Top Five Questions About The 2020 Digital Dust Safety Conference