Between 1980 and 2005, 119 workers were killed and more than 700 injured in combustible dust explosions.

These explosions were preventable -- but even though the U.S. Chemical Safety Board recommended in 2006 that regulations needed to be put in place to protect workers from death or injury from combustible dust accidents, OSHA chose instead to maintain its program of voluntary corporate compliance. But as Former CSB Chairman Carolyn W. Merritt put it, "the problem with voluntary standards is not everyone volunteers."

Preventable combustible dust accidents take the lives of American workers every year. We can and should do everything possible to prevent them.

To that end, we the undersigned call for the following steps to be taken immediately:

* Issuance of an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to require immediate controls instituted by employers where combustible dust hazards exist;

* Expedited action by OSHA to put a new permanent standard in place for control of combustible dust hazards in general industry;

* Use of the technical principles embodied in two National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) consensus standards (NFPA 654, Standard for the Prevention of Fire and Dust Explosions from the Manufacturing, Processing, and Handling of Combustible Particulate Solids, and NFPA 484, Standard for Combustible Metals-2006) as the basis for a new OSHA standard;

* The new standard include a provision requiring that covered employers report to OSHA critical information that would allow OSHA to know that the employer a) is covered by the standard at a specific establishment, and b) has assessed the potential exposures;

* Immediate inspections be undertaken of sugar processing plants utilizing inspection guidance provided in the OSHA National Emphasis Program Directive (CPL 03-00-006);

* While the above steps are being taken, immediately implement a Special Emphasis Program on combustible dust hazards, including inspection of worksites where combustible dust hazards exist and dissemination of the information contained in the July 2005 federal OSHA produced Safety and Health Information Bulletin (SmB), Combustible Dust in Industry: Preventing and Mitigating the Effects of Fire and Explosions.