NFPA 660 Required Service
Explosion Protection Assessments & Dust Hazard Analysis
If your facility handles combustible dust, you need a dust hazard analysis (DHA) and the explosion protection it calls for. For your DHA, go straight to DHA Report Group and request the intake form. We design and specify the protection it requires, all under NFPA 660. Complete support for manufacturing facilities nationwide.
Your dust hazard analysis is the foundation of everything NFPA 660 requires. It identifies the combustible dust hazards in your facility using lab-tested data, not assumptions, and determines exactly what explosion protection your operation needs. NFPA 660 requires it to be performed by a qualified person. For your DHA, go straight to DHA Report Group and request the intake form.
Without a current DHA, you can’t properly size venting, suppression, or isolation. You can’t document compliance for your fire marshal or insurance carrier. It is also the record OSHA asks for under the Combustible Dust National Emphasis Program. Whether you call it an explosion protection assessment, analysis, or audit, the DHA is the document that answers the question.
Not sure whether you need a DHA? If your facility generates dust from wood, metal, food, pharmaceuticals, plastics, or any organic material, you almost certainly do. Schedule your free system review and we’ll tell you for sure.
The Science
The Dust Explosion Pentagon
A dust explosion needs all five of these elements at once. Take any one away and you prevent it. Your DHA identifies which elements are present in your operation and how to eliminate or control them.
Fuel
Combustible dust particles. Your material’s KSt value determines how severe an explosion could be.
Oxygen
The ambient air in your facility provides the oxidizer. Inerting systems can drop oxygen below ignition thresholds.
Ignition Source
Sparks, hot surfaces, static discharge, friction. MIE testing measures how little energy it takes to ignite your dust.
Dispersion
Dust suspended in air at the right concentration. MEC testing determines the minimum explosive concentration for your material.
Confinement
An enclosed space (collector, duct, silo, or room) that lets pressure build. Pmax testing measures the maximum explosion pressure.
Remove one. Stop them all.
Your protection plan targets the elements you can actually control in your space. That’s what the DHA maps out.
Step by Step
From Dust Hazard Analysis to Protected System
Getting compliant follows the same path whether you run a metal fabrication shop with one grinder or a pharmaceutical plant with dozens of dust-generating processes, the path is a DHA first, then the protection it calls for. Here’s how we take you through it.
Free Assessment
We go through your facility with you to scope every dust-generating process, review your existing dust collection equipment, review ductwork and electrical systems, and map exactly what your DHA needs to cover. No charge, no obligation, just a clear picture of where you stand.
Your DHA & Lab Testing
Your dust is sampled and tested by an accredited lab for the full battery: KSt (explosion severity), Pmax, MEC, MIE, MIT, and LIT, and a qualified analyst completes your DHA. For your DHA, go straight to DHA Report Group and request the intake form.
Protection System design
Once your DHA defines the hazards, we design the protection it calls for: deflagration venting sized to your KSt per NFPA 68, chemical suppression, isolation valves to stop flame propagation through ductwork, and spark detection. Every protection folds into the overall dust collection system design.
Installation & Startup
An independent ICAP Certified crew or your own contractor installs the complete system (collector, ductwork, and every protection device), working from our dimensioned drawings. You get startup support and performance verification. Whoever installs your system warrants their own workmanship, under their contract with you.
Your Compliance Package
You finish with a complete record: your completed DHA, the custom-designed protection it called for, and our performance verification documentation. These are the records your fire marshal, insurance carrier, and OSHA inspector ask for. Together, that’s your compliance documentation under NFPA 660.
Wondering what yours will cost? We break it down transparently in our DHA cost guide.
Protection Options
Explosion Protection Built Around Your Dust
Your DHA determines which protection method (or combination) is right for your operation. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer; it depends on your dust’s KSt, your facility layout, and whether your collector sits indoors or outdoors. Once it’s defined, we design and specify it, then provide startup support and performance verification.
Deflagration Venting
Explosion vent panels sized to your KSt per NFPA 68. The most common and cost-effective protection for outdoor-mounted baghouse and cartridge collectors. Panels release pressure safely during a deflagration, preventing structural failure.
Chemical Suppression
High-speed systems that detect and extinguish an explosion in under 100 milliseconds, before it can fully develop. The answer when venting isn’t possible due to indoor placement, proximity to occupied areas, or highly reactive dusts like those in pharmaceutical or battery manufacturing.
Explosion Isolation Valves
Mechanical or chemical isolation devices in your ductwork that stop a flame front from traveling between connected equipment, keeping a collector deflagration from running back into your building. Required under NFPA 69 for most ducted systems.
Flameless Venting
Mesh retention systems that relieve pressure while containing flame and burning particles. The fix for collectors that must sit indoors but can’t use chemical suppression, common in food manufacturing and wood manufacturing plants.
Spark Detection & Extinguishing
Infrared sensors catch sparks and embers in your ductwork upstream of the collector, triggering a water-spray extinguish before the material reaches the filter media. Essential for welding and metal fabrication, CNC machining, and grinding.
Wet Collection
For highly reactive combustible metals like titanium, aluminum, magnesium, and zirconium, wet collection is what we recommend. Wet collectors capture the dust in water. This is the preferred approach under NFPA 660 for aerospace and metal-processing operations, with outdoor dry collection as the recognized alternative.
Regulatory Landscape
Standards Your DHA Must Address
NFPA 660
The consolidated combustible dust standard, effective January 1, 2026. It consolidated six standards (NFPA 61, 484, 652, 654, 655, and 664) and requires a DHA, explosion protection, housekeeping programs, and documentation for every facility with combustible dust. Get your free NFPA 660 checklist →
OSHA Requirements
The Combustible Dust NEP, the General Duty Clause (Section 5(a)(1)), 29 CFR 1910.94 ventilation, and 1910.307 hazardous locations. OSHA points to the NFPA standards as the benchmark for compliance.
NFPA 68 & 69
NFPA 68 covers deflagration venting design and sizing. NFPA 69 covers explosion prevention: suppression, isolation, and inerting. These are the design standards that turn your DHA findings into actual protection.
Honest Answer
What If Your DHA Reveals Gaps?
Most facilities we work with have gaps. That’s normal. The standards have moved fast, and many systems were designed before NFPA 660 existed. A DHA that turns up problems isn’t a failure. It’s the first step in fixing them.
We wrote a detailed guide for exactly this moment: what to do when your DHA reveals compliance gaps, with real costs, timelines, and the common mistakes to avoid.
A DHA that finds problems isn’t a bad outcome. It lets you close the gaps on your own timeline.
Need a full system, not just protection retrofits? Many facilities discover during the analysis that their existing dust collection can’t meet the standard. When that happens, we design a complete replacement, with explosion protection built in from the start. See our 2026 cost guide for what to expect.
Industry Experience
DHA & Explosion Protection by Industry
Your material drives your explosion characteristics. A wood-dust DHA looks nothing like an aluminum-dust DHA. We design explosion protection across every major combustible dust category. Find yours below.
Frequently Asked Questions
DHA & Explosion Protection Questions
Ready to Get Protected?
Tell us about your facility and we’ll scope it and lay out the explosion protection it calls for, with a firm quote and timeline. No pressure, no runaround.
Serving manufacturing facilities nationwide.