Back to basics
Let me tell you , it is very hot inside these chemical suits and you sweat profusely . Ammonia just loves water and if it can get into your suit , you will soon know about it . My one and only time I put on a chemical suit , I had no clue and as I walked into the plant room full of ammonia the BA set started to whistle at me . Would have been nice to know that this was telling me I only had 5 minutes of air left . That was back in the day where nobody did training - that little outing could have killed me . Make sure that the appropriate people on site are trained and know how to use the equipment .
“ There should be a regular recorded onsite inspection program of safety equipment to ensure that the required equipment is in fact there and to check that it functions .”
It ’ s important that , every time , before starting to do any work where you may interfere with the ammonia pressure envelope , you check out the site ’ s other safety equipment , its location and that it is functional . The person I spoke of previously that got ammonia onto his face from the Witt pump blow out , only found out that the eye wash station had not been used for quite a while , and when he needed it ended up with rusty water and pieces of metal in his eyes . Not good . He should have checked that all the safety equipment that was identified in the risk assessment was to hand and functional .
There should be a regular recorded onsite inspection program of safety equipment to ensure that the required equipment is in fact there and to check that it functions . I never go past a safety shower assembly without checking to see it works and the water runs clear . When I do a SANS audit , I always check to see that the air pressure in the set is never less than 270 bar , I got caught once - never again .
Hindsight is an exact science I know , but forward planning will always be first priority . The guy with the Witt pump thought it would never happen to him , but it did – he was lucky his injuries cleared up in just over two weeks . RACA
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RACA Journal I June 2021 www . hvacronline . co . za