POWER May 2010 - 62

plant safety
5. Accident waiting to happen.
Good plant housekeeping practices are vital
when handling PRB coal. Ensuring that coal
dust does not accumulate should be a fundamental
safety concern for every plant manager.
Courtesy: American Electric Power
ating awareness of methods for safely handling
coal and preventing fires. Those who
are exposed to coal dust-including, but not
limited to operators, maintenance personnel,
contractors, engineers, managers, industrial
fire brigades, and public fire department personnel-need
to be educated on its hazards
and risks as well as safe handling methods to
prevent harm.
The Road Ahead
We have indeed made great strides toward
protecting people from fire, but we have much
farther to go. Here are a few questions to ponder
that are designed to help your organization
improve its fire prevention initiatives:
fire, safety and health, and safe and efficient
coal management (Figure 5). Success in preventing
fires, explosions, and other hazardous
incidents involving coal dust can only be
achieved if unconcerned attitudes and careless
habits are changed.
Improve Education. Clearly, coal-handling
personnel require more knowledge
about the effective management of coal and
combustible dust. This means that continued
efforts need to be made in educating and cre■
What do you do on a regular basis to prevent
fires?
■ What do you expect your subordinates (or
supervisors) to do routinely to prevent fires?
■ How are your and their prevention activities
measured?
■ How do you reward (or how are you rewarded)
for performance?
■ What information do you have that shows
you have control over fire protection (or
that fire protection is under control) in the
organization?
■ Why do we continue to count the things
we don't intend to happen, such as the
number of fires, as our main performance
indicator?
■ How can we expect to manage results we
don't want to achieve?
America is still burning, and only we can
change the frequency and severity of fires.
Take a break from looking at a computer or
sitting in on another meeting to walk around
the first process at coal-fired power plants:
the coal-handling area. Seek knowledge from
proactive groups such as the PRB Coal Users'
Group, from industry technical experts,
and from within your company. Then put into
action methods to safely and effectively manage
combustibles such as coal and coal dust.
Work in preventive mode! ■
-Bob Taylor (rdtaylor@aep.com) is
with American Electric Power's environment,
safety and health organization
and currently serves on the board of
directors of the PRB Coal Users' Group.
He is a principal member of the NFPA
1081 (Industrial Fire Brigades) Technical
Committee and has extensive background
in fire, safety, health, security,
and management systems.
IMPROVE
THE OPERATING EFFICIENCY
OF YOUR PLANT
AND BECOME
GAS SUPPLY
INDEPENDENT
www.protonenergy.com | T 203.949.8697 | F 203.949.8016 | customerservice@protonenergy.com
Visit us at the Electric Power 2010 conference, Booth# 1939
circle 42 on reader service card
62
www.powermag.com
POWER | May 2010
http://www.protonenergy.com http://www.powermag.com
POWER May 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER May 2010
