[Che-student-staff-list] New Cylinder Procedures in Forney - Please Read

[Davis, Linda S]

Che Faculty, Staff and Students,

Currently, safety issues exist in Forney concerning high pressure gas cylinders.  Several, but not all, include:

1)      Inadequate space in the shipping and receiving area (G134) to segregate oxidizers and flammables.  Fire code specifies a minimum distance of 20 feet.

2)      Not-in-use flammable gas cylinders stored in laboratories - above the limits set by the fire code.

3)      Flammable gas mixtures (hydrogen and other) stored in laboratories without flammable gas detectors.

In conjunction with REM, the ChE safety committee has designed and installed a large, secure, and sheltered cylinder storage area external to Forney.  The storage area is located on the northwest side of Forney facing the civil engineering building.  Cages for flammable and non-flammable gases are separated by an approved fire resistant barrier.  Separate cages for incoming cylinders, return cylinders and stored cylinders are provided.

Starting on Monday, May 21, all gas cylinders will be picked up and returned utilizing the new storage area.  The new cylinder handling procedures are described in the attached document.  Each research group will be given a key to access the cages, and  Jason Davenport will be assigning the keys starting on May 21.

We are also asking each research group to move not-in-use cylinders out of their laboratories and into the new storage cages.  This is important for all gas cylinders not just flammable and toxic gas cylinders.  If a laboratory fire occurred in Forney, the safest situation is to have high pressure gas cylinders stored remotely.

This is an important safety improvement for the Forney laboratories!  We appreciate your time and commitment to making the change successful.

Thank you.

Linda
For the ChE Safety Committee

Linda S. Davis
Industrial Education Director
Chair, ChE Safety Committee (https://engineering.purdue.edu/ChE/AboutUs/Safety.html)
School of Chemical Engineering
Purdue University
lsdavis at purdue.edu<mailto:lsdavis at purdue.edu>
(765)496-1710

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