The last of a free six-part Safety Foundation Webinar Series presented by the Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC) safety committee is available on July 27. The series is being produced in co-operation with WorkSafeBC, the University of British Columbia Biomass and Bioenergy Research Group, BioMass Canada, and media partner Canadian Biomass magazine.

The webinar—Combustible Dust and Combustible Gas—is the second of a two-part series on safe handling and storage of biomass. Jeff Mycroft, regional sales manager at Fike Canada, will discuss how to control and manage the hazards associated with combustible dust and combustible gas. Part 1 discussed safety issues related to wood pellet off-gassing, self-heating and silo fires.

“Wood dust is the raw material for making pellets, not a waste product, and it can be explosive under the right conditions,” says Fahimeh Yazdan Panah, director of research and technical development at WPAC. “Hazard and risk assessment and dust control is vital because fine dust disturbed by one explosion can become fuel for a more serious secondary explosion.”

Each of the webinars is about an hour long and followed by a quiz. Participants who successfully complete the quiz earn a certificate, and those who pass all six quizzes receive a Safety Foundation Course certificate.

Register HERE for the latest webinar. The first five sessions can be viewed at https://www.pellet.org/safety-foundation-course/. The first two webinars discussed bow tie analysis and the second two focused on human-machine interface.

The webinars provide valuable information about process safety to everyone involved in the pellet industry, including operating personnel at all levels of a pellet plant, supervisors, senior management, control operators, other industry participants, equipment suppliers, and safety professionals.