Page 200 - Dust Explosions in the Process Industries

Case Histories 173

2.5
WST EXPLOSION IN A FISH MEAL FACTORY
IN NORWAY IN 1975

The explosion, described by Eckhoff (1980), took place at the end of a hot, dry day in
August 1975, in one of the many fish meal factories located along the Norwegian west
coast. A young worker lost his life due to severe burns, and another was injured. At the
time of the explosion,the Norwegian factory inspectoratehad just about released its very
first set of rules for fighting industrial dust explosions. Hence, the general appreciation
of the dust explosion hazard in Norwegian industry was still meager.
The part of the factory involved in the explosion was the fish meal grinding plant, illus-
trated in Figure 2.15. This plant was located in a 30 m tall building that also contained
several fairly large storage and mixing silos.Aphotograph of the building, takenjust after
the explosion and showing the damaged roof, is given in Figure 2.16.
The three silos indicated on Figure 2.15, which played a key role in the development
of the explosion, were 12 m high with diameters of about 3 m. The wooden floor of the
loft of the building also served as the common roof of the three silos. Close to the top
of the silos there were 0.1 m x 1 m open slots in the common wall between silos no. 1
and no. 2, and no. 2 and no. 3. The original purpose of the three silos was to store the pro-
duction of fish meal accumulated during the night shift, allowing the screening operation
to be limited to the day shift. However, the hopper parts of the silos were not properly

Unground fish meal
from factory

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Figure 2.15 The fish meal grinding plant afflicted with a dust explosion in 1975.