Products with dust explosion hazards

Dust explosion hazards are not specifically described under CLP, but do require adding to the Safety Data Sheet.  This hazard arises from organic dusts, which may or may not be classified as hazardous under CLP (eg wood flour; wheat flour or grain dust etc).

Sometimes the dusts may have Workplace Exposure Limits (WELs), requiring an SDS to be issued, but occasionally they may not have a WEL, and in theory do not require a mandatory SDS.  However, it is considered good practice to issue an SDS in these cases, unless the dust explosion risks are widely understood (eg in the food industry), and you are confident that your customers are dealing with the risks in an appropriate way under DSEAR/ATEX.

Note that you can’t assume that only organic dusts are explosive, as some inorganic dusts such as talc also have explosive properties.  If you have a product which is dusty (or a fine powder), the GESTIS-DUST-EX database can be checked to see if it is flammable or explosive, see http://www.dguv.de/ifa/gestis/gestis-staub-ex/index-2.jsp .  (Also note that some inorganic substances (like Hydrogen Sulphide) are flammable, so you do need to be careful and not make a blanket assumption that your inorganic material does not have flammable or explosive properties).

Dust explosion hazards can be identified in the SDS at Section 2.3, other hazards, and Section 9.1, physical and chemical properties.  If the dusts have workplace exposure limits, these should be included in Section 8, exposure controls/ personal protection.  You may also want to put specific methods for dealing with dusts in Section 6, accidental release hazards; Section 7, handling and storage; and any other sections of the SDS which you consider may be appropriate.