9 AM, 23rd September, our company customer’s flour mill had an
explosion. The customer purchased the equipment in 2010 with 600 T/D
capacity.
The explosion happened when the workers were installing an electric
lamp for lighting purpose in a flour bin. When the power concentration
had reached a certain level in the bin and ran into the sparks of the
lighting lamp, the explosion happened. The accident caused 8 operators
injured and most equipment became loose or got damaged.
Here we’d like to remind flour mills to install normal anti-explosion
lamps, especially inside the purifiers and flour bins. It’s prohibited
to use common incandescent lamps or energy saving lamps.
In addition, when equipment welding is completed, do clean the interior
of the equipment; the power in contact with the welding slags should be
cleaned thoroughly to avoid smouldering and explosion during production
process. In 1991, an Indonesian 200T/D flour mill had a powder
explosion caused by smouldering after welding.
