PPE Guide

A substantial element of creating a safe atmosphere for your workforce mandates reducing the likelihood that an employee’s environment can in some fashion play a part or raise the danger of an accident taking place.  Safety Managers are required to repeatedly engage in the assessment of a facility’s workflow, especially if it is often reconfigured in order to have capacity for other projects, or if employees are often likely to be in motion around the building or workshop and execute their unique tasks in shifting conditions.

The storage of possibly unsafe materials falls in this class of risk mitigation.  Keeping workers secure from the dangers presented by certain kinds of chemicals, fumes or other items means more than just restricting access.  It involves comprehending the characteristics of the agents themselves, the situations in which they could potentially become harmful, and the regulatory statutes that have been mandated to diminish the probability of an accident occurring.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has recently determined a Direct Final Rule on the subject of the acetylene industry that addresses obsolete statues covering the handling, storage and moving of cylinders containing this volatile gas.  Becoming regulation effective November 2009, the updated protocols are meant to increase the wellbeing of workers who regularly work with acetylene.

The fresh regulations make it unmistakable that supervisors are required that their workplaces conform to the Compressed Gas Association Pamphlet G-1-2003, Acetylene.   A key condition of this pamphlet alters the conditions in which acetylene cylinders can be stored.  Before, it was not uncommon for cylinders to be transported from facility to facility in closed environments, be they car trunks, sealed trucks or possibly even in corrals.  Workers were also permitted to stock acetylene cylinders in unventilated lockers, closets, drawers or small storage rooms.  These practices dated back to 1966, when acetylene storage guidelines were last updated.

This latter habit is no longer permissible, due to the eruption and detonation hazards presented by likely gas increase from leaking cylinders.  In order to stop this type of disaster from occurring, a new guideline that acetylene cylinders be managed in well-ventilated lockers or cabinets have been put into position.  Examples of the adequate type of gas cylinder storage units include Justrite aluminum cylinder lockers, which feature an open grille design and many configurations to permit horizontal, vertical or mixed storage.  The aluminum construction also makes the lockers resistant to deterioration, making them appropriate for use on out-of-doors sites where pilfering of cylinders is a worry.

Fire-resistant safety cabinets are not suitable for acetylene cylinder storage.  Even though these units may seem to offer safety against potential explosion, their air-tight confines can in reality contribute towards the increase of dangerous leaked gas pressures, escalating risks even with their solid construction.  The volatility and insecurity of acetylene gas means that no risks ought to be taken during storage.  The updated OSHA guidelines should increase employee safety across a wide array of industries, specifically those where large-scale welding is a general occurrence.