How to beat compressed gas hazards

摘要

Tips on working safely with gas cylinders. What's red or green, blue or black, can fly through walls, suffocate you or explode, and is as common to boats as shipyards and welders? Compressed gas cylinders. When you see them all the time--on the dock, at the yard, in the shop--it can be easy to become used to their presence and to forget that, with one mishap, they will turn into an unguided missile, a rocket devastating everything in its path. Accidents are amazingly uncommon, considering the potential. Regulations that are in place are probably part of the reason why. Cylinders are regulated by the United States Department of Transportation (DOT), and at work sites by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA requires compliance with several Compressed Gas Association pamphlets. In countries without similar laws, accidents are not so uncommon. In 1999, four people were killed in Norilsk, Russia, by the explosion of four oxygen cylinders. Last year in India, a balloon seller's corroded cylinder exploded on a busy street, killing four and injuring 27. Not all accidents result from a lack of effective regtfiation; some stem from mishandling. Recently, 14 were killed in Pakistan by an explosion caused by a leaking gas cylinder. In 2001, a chemist was badly injured when her 10-year-old regulator exploded in her face as she was opening the valve.