Safety

Combustibles, Part 3

May 1, 2018

Never allow combustibles to accumulate or be placed near electrical equipment.

In an Alabama assembly plant, parts came in cardboard boxes. The plant had a constant flow of parts boxes to the assembly lines, where operators would take out the parts as needed and then discard the boxes as they became empty.

The supervisors pulled the boxes and packing material away from the machines, and tossed it all in piles against the switchgear to get it off the manufacturing floor. This unsafe practice hadn’t yet caused a fire, but it was a ticking time bomb.

Never allow combustibles to accumulate and never let them be placed near electrical equipment. You can often solve chronic combustible misplacement with small work process changes.

In this case, the new work process used a Kanban system that included color-coded parts bins and designated bin collection carts. All that unpacking and tossing of materials took place in a receiving room. This also removed several tripping hazards and some distractions. Quality went up along with safety, while cost went down.

About the Author

Mark Lamendola

Mark is an expert in maintenance management, having racked up an impressive track record during his time working in the field. He also has extensive knowledge of, and practical expertise with, the National Electrical Code (NEC). Through his consulting business, he provides articles and training materials on electrical topics, specializing in making difficult subjects easy to understand and focusing on the practical aspects of electrical work.

Prior to starting his own business, Mark served as the Technical Editor on EC&M for six years, worked three years in nuclear maintenance, six years as a contract project engineer/project manager, three years as a systems engineer, and three years in plant maintenance management.

Mark earned an AAS degree from Rock Valley College, a BSEET from Columbia Pacific University, and an MBA from Lake Erie College. He’s also completed several related certifications over the years and even was formerly licensed as a Master Electrician. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and past Chairman of the Kansas City Chapters of both the IEEE and the IEEE Computer Society. Mark also served as the program director for, a board member of, and webmaster of, the Midwest Chapter of the 7x24 Exchange. He has also held memberships with the following organizations: NETA, NFPA, International Association of Webmasters, and Institute of Certified Professional Managers.