Flammable Liquids

We are never quite sure how these myths get started, but my team and I hear some doosee’s from time to time.  The “myth” I am going to discuss today is one we actually see more often than not.  We see this even in facilities that have a good grasp of their Hazardous Locations and […]

Most of us have a LPG tank on site and many of us have multiple tanks lined up next to each other.  As part of their “Coffee Break” training the United States Fire Administration (USFA) has just released a GREAT resource for our engineering groups to aid them when locating these LPG tanks.  Now this

Scenario: An employer requires ordinary safety-toe footwear throughout their facilities and pays for the first $100 of the footwear cost. As part of a recent company-wide static electricity control program, employees working with flammable liquids and products are now required to have static dissipative safety-toe footwear.   Question 1: Would the static dissipative safety-toe footwear

This NPRM would update the SDO standards referenced in the three paragraphs that comprise the Acetylene Standard. The Compressed Gas Association (CGA) published several editions of these SDO standards after OSHA adopted them in 1974, and one of these standards (i.e., Compressed Gas Association Pamphlet G-1.4-1966), is no longer available for purchase from CGA. Therefore,

Nonconductive plastics and other nonconductive materials should be avoided in areas where flammable vapors, gases or powders may be present since static charges can accumulate on nonconductors. However, it is not always possible to completely eliminate nonconductors, so the following lists some of the ways to reduce the static hazard associated with these materials: When

Cleaning small parts and portable equipment with solvents, either using an automatic device or manual cleaning, is a potentially extremely hazardous task relative to static generation and spark ignition of solvent vapors.  Significant static electricity charging can occur during cleaning by contact and separation resulting from the following activities: Solvent spraying, which can involve high liquid

One option for mitigating the static hazards associated with low conductivity liquids is to raise the conductivity of the liquid. This can be accomplished by either blending the low conductivity liquid with a conductive liquid (e.g., alcohol, ketone) or by adding a static dissipating additive into the low conductivity liquid.   When blending a low

Toluene is a widely used low conductivity flammable liquid. Toluene’s vapor pressure is such that one is assured of a flammable vapor/air mixture at the ambient temperatures found in most facilities. The Lower Explosive Limit (LEL) of toluene is 1% and is reached at a temperature of 40°F (4°C). The Upper Explosive Limit (UEL) is

Improper handling of low conductivity liquids is a source of static energy that causes flammable vapor ignition. Low conductivity liquids will accumulate a static charge from liquid shear charging at the pipe or vessel wall.  The charge in a low conductivity liquid can NOT be dissipated by grounding. Low conductivity liquids are typically derived from

Well I told you last week that I would scare the !@#$ out of a lot of you, so here it goes.  Nitrogen can be your ignition source if it is NOT applied and used properly.

Now here is why bonding and grounding falls well short of being all the precautions we need when transferring NON-CONDUCTIVE FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS.  Bonding and grounding takes into account that we are equalizing the energy levels between the containers and therefore the static will not be released to the differently charged container.  This works when it