Combustible dust fires and explosions have resulted in many process safety incidents that have caused multiple fatalities and injuries together with considerable property damage. According to the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB), 386 major incidents occurred from 1980 to 2017. They killed 178 people and injured 1021 people. The incidents came from a wide variety of industries. 

Numerous lessons have been learned from the investigation of combustible dust incidents including:

These lessons must be taken seriously by companies that handle combustible dusts if the likelihood of future catastrophic incidents is to be minimized.