Flammables storage

Investigate the potential for unconfmed vapor cloud explosions resulting from accidents at the flammable storage tank area. 

Consider the following fault tree for a flammable storage tank fire. Identify whether the numbered boxes are (and) or (or) gates. 

For a Flammable Storage Fire to occur, Excess Flamnuible Vapor and Air/02 and Source of Ignition must be present. Tlierefore, box I is an and gate since all situations must occur. 

Define plant areas handling hazardous and lethal materials and set rules for design considerations, such as ventilation, explosion walls, etc. Flammable storage materials may require enclosed dikes, foam systems and the like. Refer to National Board of Fire Underwriters or specific insurance company to coordinate recommended protection. Attaway has details on many points to consider. 

Compressors Dikes Place gas compressors downwind and separated from fired heaters. Locate flammable storage vessels at periphery of unit. Dike vessels to contain and carry away spills. 

Explosion. Use shielding when working with explosive classes such as acetylides, azides, ozonides, and peroxides. Peroxidizable substances such as ethers and alkenes, when stored for a long time, should be tested for peroxides before use. Only sparkless flammable storage refrigerators should be used in laboratories. 

Chemicals should be stored properly. For example, flammable chemicals (e.g ethanol, methanol, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, petroleum distillates, toluene, benzene, and other materials labeled flammable) should be stored in approved flammable storage cabinets, and flammable chemicals requiring refrigeration should be stored in explosion-proof refrigerators. Oxidizers should be segregated from other chemicals, and corrosive acids (e.g., sulfuric, hydrochloric, nitric, perchloric, and hydrofluoric acids) should also be stored in a separate cabinet, well-removed from the flammable organics. 

Only sufficient solvents for immediate use should be kept on the shop floor. The bulk of the stock must be kept in a special flammable storage container. 

Approved flammable storage cabinets should be used for flammable liquid storage. 

You may store up to 10 gallons of flammable liquids outside of approved flammable storage cabinets. 

The manufacturer establishes quantity limits for various sizes of flammable storage cabinets do not overload the cabinet. As a general rule, not more than 120 gal (454 L) of class 1, class 2, and class 3A liquids may be stored in a storage cabinet. Of this total, not more than 60 gal (227 L) may be of class 1 and class 2 liquids, and not more than 3 storage cabinets should be kept in a single room. 

Use of appropriate storage facilities (e g., flammable storage cabinet for flammable solvents, appropriate distances between reactive chemicals, specialized cabinets for explosive chemicals, and gas cylinder storage sheds and racks) ... 

There should be no potential sources of electrical sparks on the inside of a laboratory refrigerator where volatile or flammable chemicals are stored. Only refrigerators that have been Unda-writers-approved for flammable storage by the manufacturer should be used for this purpose. If this is not possible, aU new or existing manual defrost refrigerators... 

If a special-flammable storage cabinet ventilation system is installed, it should employ an AMCA-C type spark-resistant fan and an explosion-proof motor. Most fractional horsepower fans commonly used for this purpose do not meet this criterion and should not be used. If the building has a common fume hood exhaust system, then it is appropriate to hook a flammable-storage cabinet up to it if it must be ventilated. 

Yellow Caution Corrosives Potential hazards Instability Physical hazards Traffic designation Flammable storage Housekeeping mark... 

When you take organic chemistry laboratory, you will encounter many flammable liquids, especially solvents. A Are is perhaps the most dangerous and most damaging of all potential incidents that might occur in a laboratory. It is important to take all possible steps to reduce and minimize exposures to these flammables. You can minimize exposures by keeping a minimal quantity out in the open laboratory, and keeping the rest of the solvents in a proper flammables storage cabinet. 

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