Penford unveils new grain milling product to promote safety

Penford has unveiled a new simulator designed to promote safe practices in grain milling.

The starch and ethanol processor, with facilities in Cedar Rapids, built a combustible dust simulator in partnership with Iowa State University's American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers to be used as an instructional tool in Penford's safety training program.

Combustible dust hazards are a part of any grain handling industry, said Chuck Duthler, director of environmental health and safety at Penford.

"We had a device up until 2008 and that device was lost in the flood, and so we had a need to replace that as part of our training program and we thought by working with Iowa State University that they could gain some insights on the subject and we could get a new training module developed for our use," he said.

The simulator is a chamber with reinforced panels on all four sides. It is two-foot square in size.

“What you do is you put combustible dust inside of it, you aerate the combustible dust and then you hit an igniter,” Duthler said. “It lights the combustible dust on fire in the chamber and gives you a very visual image of what a combustible dust fireball looks like.”

Duthler said Penford always has a high focus on combustible dust hazards and managing that risk.

"It's one thing to sit in the classroom and talk about safe handling of dusts and materials, but to be able to actually go into a controlled environment and see a dust flash fire in front of you, is a very visual, graphic representation of what the risk looks like," he said. "We felt that that was a more important way, a very effective way of getting the message across to all of our employees."

Penford will begin using the unit in June.