CTA Report, Draft 1, ISP Review - US Chemical Safety and Hazard ...

9.0 Insurance Guidelines and Inspections
Several loss prevention, risk management, and general liability insurance companies provided coverage
and inspected the CTA facility. For example, at least twice a year since 1997, FM Global, a large
commercial and industrial property insurer, conducted property reviews for CTA, including mechanical
and electrical system inspections. Despite frequent inspections, none of CTA’s insurers identified
phenolic resin dust as an explosion hazard after 1995.
9.1 FM Global Guidelines
FM Global publishes guidelines to reduce or prevent dust fires and explosions. Data Sheets 6-9,
Industrial Ovens and Dryers (2003), and 7-76, Prevention and Mitigation of Combustible Dust
Explosions and Fire (2004), apply to operations such as those found at CTA.
FM Global property loss prevention data sheets are engineering guidelines to reduce the likelihood of
property loss due to fire, weather conditions, or failure of electrical or mechanical equipment. They
incorporate loss experience, research results, and input from consensus standards committees, equipment
manufacturers, and others. FM Global usually uses the data sheets during facility inspections. They are
also sometimes provided to customers and available to noncustomers for purchase. CTA told CSB that it
did not have a copy of either data sheet 6-9 or 7-76.
9.1.1 Industrial Ovens and Dryers
FM Global Data Sheet 6-9 (2003) addresses fire and explosion hazards from process combustibles (e.g.,
dust, debris), fuel (e.g., natural gas), and flammable materials in industrial ovens and dryers. Sprinkler
protection is recommended if “appreciable accumulations of combustible drippings or deposits are
present on the interior oven surfaces.” Although the process lines at CTA handled combustible material
that accumulated in the bottom of the ovens, none of the ovens were equipped with sprinklers.
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