In today’s episode of the Dust Safety Science podcast, we discuss the WPAC (Wood Pellet Association of Canada) audit tool for managing wood dust mitigation and control.
This subject was inspired by a Helpdesk question from a company seeking to develop a tool or audit process for evaluating their combustible dust program. Our team pointed them toward an audit tool created by the Wood Pellet Association of Canada safety committee a few years back. You can find it published on the WPAC’s combustible dust research page.
This WPAC audit tool, or Base 4 Audit Tool, is included in the suite of resources released by the BC Forest Safety Council. Companies may use the Base Audit informally to gauge their safety programs and make improvements or formally to record their program for what is called SAFE certification through the BC Forest Safety Council.
Today we’re going to cover the following topics:
- The features and scope of the WPAC audit tool
- Recommended qualifications for an auditor
- Elements of the audit process itself and how it is applied
Features and Scope of the WPAC Tool
The audit report’s template uses a scoring system based on 500 possible points. It includes three workbooks: one for observation, one for interview, and a third for documentation. In terms of the scope, the document states:
“This audit can be utilized by all wood pellet manufacturing facilities that produce or utilize combustible dust during their manufacturing activities. The physical scope of the audit will be extended from the facility’s raw material handling areas and departments through to loading and shipping areas and departments. The audit will review and evaluate several elements of effective wood dust mitigation and control program and will focus on the hazards associated with both combustible dust and potential ignition sources. This audit is intended to provide recommendations to the facility on the appropriate management of combustible wood dust and ignition sources. As such, this audit helps document the steps the facility should be taking to manage combustible dust issues.”
The audit is broken down into four different sections:
- The program itself
- Training and communication
- Risk assessment
- Controls
The program, training and risk assessment sections are worth 95 points each and the control section is worth 215 points.
Recommended Auditor Qualifications
The WPAC provides a list of criteria for auditors at wood pellet facilities.
Having a minimum of three to five years of experience in woodworking facilities – pellet mills in particular – is the first criterion. Criteria number two is understanding and knowledge of applicable code standards, regulations and guidelines, including NFPA, IEC, BC Fire Code, BC Building Code, Canadian Electoral Code, and CSA codes. Number three is education or professional designation, such as professional engineer or engineer-in-training, Applied Science Technologist, Canadian Risk manager, and National Fire Protection Association Fire Inspector Certificate.
Elements of the Audit Program
The program evaluation, which is worth 95 points in the overall audit, has six items.
The first one is whether the company has a written combustible wood dust management program applicable to any facility generating wood dust. Ten items are covered, including whether the program is reviewed on an annual basis, whether ignition sources are identified, or if there is a documented investigation program for fires and similar incidents. The auditor must rank the facility based on 15 points.
The second question states, “Does the company have a wood dust audit process?” There are also questions related to auditors educated and trained on wood dust mitigation and any defined standards and protocols used by the auditor. There are other criteria, but these are good examples. Two points are awarded for each of the six questions, resulting in a maximum total of 20 points on the list.
The section for education, training and communication, and evaluation has ten items for a total of 95 points. The first one, which includes observation, documentation and interview aspects, is “Do the indoctrination, education and training programs include information on combustible wood dust?”
It then proceeds to provide steps, potential interview scripts and different things to help the auditor investigate more thoroughly. It’s worth a total of 20 points.
Let’s start with the observation component. It says that the auditor must determine if training being provided is adequate for the hazards and risks associated with wood dust at the facility, and observe the workforce for compliance to establish standard work practices – which may include the following items:
- Identification of combustible wood dust
- Correct housekeeping procedures
- Risk assessment prior to cleaning up an area
- Correct hot work procedures
- Correct pressurized air cleanup processes
On the documentation side, it checks for training documentation that includes specific combustible dust training applicable to each position. There are a number of training modules and an interview component in which they interview employees, managers, supervisors, and workers to assess their understanding of the characteristics of wood dust. Like the observation component, the documentation section is worth 20 points.
The third section is on hazard and risk assessment evaluation. It contains seven section for 95 points. It covers questions like:
- Has the facility correctly identified areas where combustible wood dust conditions and potential ignition sources exist?
- Do hazard assessments include the identification of combustible wood dust properties?
- Has the facility categorized the combustible dust wood hazards in terms of things like dispersion hazards or fire hazards deflagration hazards?
- Has the facility identified potential ignition sources?
- Do completed hazard assessments include categorization of risk, including things like consequence and frequency?
- Does the hazard assessment process demonstrate mitigation control strategies and follow up of issues, and where the hazard assessment results?
- Were the hazard assessment results categorized based on severity and consequences?
The last -and largest- section is on control evaluation. It contains 20 items worth 215 points in total. In order to give you an idea of what’s included in this comprehensive audit process developed here, we’ll read through a couple of these.
Item number two in this list is housekeeping controls.On the observation side, it states, “Observe if the primary method of dust cleanup is acceptable [and] observe the facility housekeeping over time to determine if the established standards are being met. Is it keeping an average of less than one eighth of an inch or 5% of area? Areas to consider include hoods, beams, ledges, conveyors, horizontal surfaces, ducts, pipes, unused buildings, office areas and more.”
In this section, you’re also checking for documentation of housekeeping practices that include alternate cleanup methods to minimize wood dust distribution as well as standard operating procedures for the use of compressed air and/or prohibit the use of compressed air, and other safety measures,
On the interview side, it says to interview employees to determine whether housekeeping controls have been implemented. Example questions include:
- What housekeeping procedures are in place to control combustible wood dust hazards?
- Are primary machine centres managed for dust accumulation and ignition sources?
- Are conveyors managed to reduce hazards?
They also have several items that are very specific to pellet manufacturing, such as grinding applications and pelletizing equipment as well.
Conclusion
So what do all these WPAC audit tool scores mean? Companies that do not achieve at least 80% overall with at least 50% in every element are at significantly higher risk than those that do. With this documentation, you have an idea of where you need to improve in your efforts to create a safer environment in your workplace.
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
Organizations
Wood Pellet Association of Canada
BC Forest Safety Council
Resources Page
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