"We could not rely on OSHA"

That's the word from Georgia's Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner, John Oxendine, during his announcement that the State will impose new safety requirements to prevent combustible dust explosions.  The Commissioner's new rule comes one month after a deadly explosion at the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Georgia, which killed 12 and severely injured scores of other workers, including 11 who remain in critical condition from the severe burns they suffered in the blast.  (More on the burn victims and the long recover ahead for them here.)

The new safety requirement which were issued as emergency rules will apply to every industrial facility in Georgia that creates combustible dust as part of their production process.  Thousands of companies will have to comply with the requirements including chemical manufacturers, food-product producers, and timber/wood-working mills.  (See the Chemical Safety Board's list of dust-explosion events here to understand the the diversity of potential combustible dust hazards.)

Read the full story here about Georgia's new rules, including where Commissioner Oxendine says:

"...he was acting independently of OSHA because, "We felt like we could not rely on OSHA."

Woosh!  That's quite an on-the-record statement.