TLDR: A 24/7 composite decking manufacturer using PVC avoided insurance premium increases by installing SonicAire fans to control combustible dust. The system eliminated the need for rushed pre-audit cleanings with scissor lifts, allowing auditors to see actual operating conditions while maintaining consistently clean, breathable working environment.
Key Points:
• 24/7 operation with PVC composite materials
• Insurance auditors concerned about combustibility aspects
• Avoided premium increases by demonstrating dust control
• Eliminated pre-audit “hot and heavy” cleaning scrambles
• Employees report more enjoyable, breathable work environment
Transcript:
My name is Thomas. I am a manufacturing engineer in the plastics industry. We do composite decking, composite lumber – the main component of our product is PVC. We run a 24/7, 365-day operation.
Because you have a mixing operation going on, you’ll have residual dust. And over continual hours of run, a lot of the residual particles – particulate matter – got hung up on the rafters, the girders, the beams, the hoppers. And when the company had their insurance company come in, they didn’t like the fact that there was so much dust. Now, our dust isn’t highly combustible, but it has a combustibility aspect to it. So, OSHA was really focusing on these things.
What we would do before the insurance auditor was coming in is we’d bring in a cleaning company. And they’d bring their scissor lifts, and they would get all the nooks and crannies and blow down the dust. You run hot and heavy to get the place cleaned up, and then after the insurer leaves, you go back to doing your job and kind of forget about the housekeeping.
With the SonicAire fans, I don’t have any of that stuff. Next time the auditor comes, he comes and he sees the operation like we have it. What one notices now when they walk out there: it’s tough to find any real dust hanging in the air or on surfaces. What that did for us is – I know the insurance companies were toying with raising our rates because of the high level of dust that we had in that facility – and our premiums stayed the same. So, the SonicAire fans really did an impressive job in my opinion.
The bottom line is, if I were to ask any of the other guys, “What do you think of them?” nothing but positive things to say. It’s just so much more enjoyable to work in an environment they can breathe easily, an environment that they can see through, an environment that they enjoy being in.
