Combustible toxicity

Laboratory experiments using rodents, or the use of gas analysis, tend to be confused by the dominant variable of fuel—air ratio as well as important effects of burning configuration, heat input, equipment design, and toxicity criteria used, ie, death vs incapacitation, time to death, lethal concentration, etc (154,155). Some comparisons of polyurethane foam combustion toxicity with and without phosphoms flame retardants show no consistent positive or negative effect. Moreover, data from small-scale tests have doubtful relevance to real fine ha2ards. 

New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code - Art. 15. Part 1120 Combustion Toxicity Testing and Regulations for Implementing Building Materials and Finishes. Fire Gas Toxicity Data File. Albany, NY (1987). 

Process fires are very similar whether they occur outside or in enclosed buildings. The major differences are that products of combustion (toxic fumes, smoke, CO, CO2) build-up in an enclosure very quickly and can incapacitate personnel and hinder escape. Depending on the location and size of the fire, personnel will not have much time (less than one minute) to escape the building. It is important that life safety issues be handled by foil owing the applicable building code and NFPA 101, Fife Safety Code. 

For use in viability counts, stocks are diluted 1.100 with PBS. Stored at room temperature in the dark. The solution has a shelf-life of at least 2 mo. Hazard warning both ethidium bromide and acridine orange have mutagenic properties, are combustible, toxic, and irritants to the skin, eyes, and respiratory system. Handle with care... 

There are a large number of different methods used for bench-scale assessment of combustion toxicity, and the applicability of test data to lire hazard assessment is not always clear. Obviously, toxic potency data should not be used in isolation but should either be a part of a classification scheme or as part of the input to lire risk and lire safety engineering assessments. It is important that uncertainty or confidence limits should be used with toxic potency data, because they are often relatively large. Fire effluent toxic potency does not have a unique value but is a function of the material and the fire conditions, particularly temperature and oxygen availability in the fire zone, and also the fire environment (enclosure, geometry, and ventilation). To assess the fire hazard, toxic potency data must be relevant to the end use fire situation, and the fire condition, which can be defined using the ISO classification of fire stages. 

T.R. Hull and K.T. Paul, Bench-scale assessment of combustion toxicity—A critical analysis of current protocols, Fire Safety Journal, 42, 340-365, 2007. 

T.R. Hull, A.A. Stec, K. Lebek, and D. Price, Factors affecting the combustion toxicity of polymeric materials, Polymer Degradation and Stability, 92, 2239-2246, 2007. 

In the 1980s, New York incorporated into its code (New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code), in Article 15, Part 1120, a requirement for Combustion Toxicity Testing, 23 based on a smoke toxicity test developed at the University of Pittsburgh.24 The test method was never standardized by either ASTM or NFPA because of the several concerns about its scientific validity.25 28 The New York State regulation did not include pass/fail criteria and has since been rescinded. 

On June 19, 2008, the MSHA published in the Federal Register, a Request for Information (http //www.msha.gov/REGS/FEDREG/RFI/E8-13633.pdf), with comments dueby early September, as to whether tests exist that can be used for assessing conveyor-belt combustion toxicity and smoke density. Comments had to be identified with RIN 1219-AB60 and sent to MSHA. The information collected will potentially result in developing additional requirements for conveyor mine belts. 

New York State Combustion Toxicity Regulations Combustion Toxicity Testing, Article 15, Part 1120 (9 NYCRR 1120)—Effective December 16, 1986. 

Norris, J.C., Investigation of the dual LC50 values in woods using the University of Pittsburgh combustion toxicity apparatus, in Characterization and Toxicity of Smoke, Ed. H.J. Hasegawa, ASTM STP 1082, American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, PA, pp. 57-71, 1990. 

Flammable, vapor causes explosive mix with air Combustible, toxic, carcinogen Flammable as dust, toxic, carcinogen Poison, P-listed, extremely hazardous Corrosive Highly toxic... 

Wilkins E. Marray F. (1980) Toxicity of emissions from combustion and pyrolysis of wood Wood Set. and Teehnoi, 14, 281-288 Hirata T, Inoue M. Fukui Y. (1993) Pyrolysis and combustion toxicity of wood treated with CCA. WoodSei. and Technol, 27, 35-47. 

Observe normal precautions appropriate to the circumstances and quantity of material handled. Butylated hydroxyanisole may he irritant to the eyes and skin and on inhalation. It should be handled in a well-ventilated environment gloves and eye protection are recommended. On combustion, toxic fumes may be given off. 

AH-120 Literature Review of the Combustion Toxicity of Expanded Polystyrene (Southwest Research Institute, 1986). 

Combustion toxicity research is the study of the adverse health effects caused by exposure to fire atmospheres. A fire atmosphere is defined as all of the effluents generated by the thermal decomposition of materials or products regardless of whether that effluent is produced under smoldering, nonflaming, or flaming conditions. The objectives of combustion toxicity research are to identify potentially harmful products from the thermal degradation of materials. 

Many test methods for the determination of the acute toxicity of combustion products from materials and products have been developed over the last two decades and continue to be developed and/or improved. In 1983, 13 of the methods published up to that time were evaluated by Arthur D. Little, Inc. to assess the feasibility of incorporating combustion toxicity requirements for building materials and finishes into the building codes of New York State. On the basis of seven different criteria, only two methods were found acceptable. These two methods were the flow-through smoke toxicity method developed at the University of Pittsburgh and the closed-system cup furnace smoke toxicity method developed at NIST (known at that time as the National Bureau of Standards (NBS)). Standard Reference Materials and protocols (SRM 1048 and SRM 1049) were developed at NIST and are available to the users of these methods to provide assurance that they are performing the methods correctly (see Relevant Websites ... 

New methods that have been developed since 1983 to examine acute combustion toxicity include the University of Pittsburgh II radiant furnace method, a radiant furnace smoke toxicity protocol developed by NIST and SwRI, and the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) toxic hazard test method. All three use radiant heat to decompose materials. 

Hazard Supports combustion. Toxic by inhalation, strong irritant to skin and mucous membranes. TLV 25 ppm. 

Hazard Oxidizing agent when intimately mixed with certain organic substances, it may initiate combustion. Toxic by ingestion. 

Properties Colorless to pale-yellow solid aromatic odor. Mw 265.96, sp g 1.59-1.65, mp 115C, bp 311.5-360C, flash p 410F. Insoluble in water. Hazard Combustible. Toxic by inhalation and skin contact. TLV 2 mg/m3. 

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