Fire hazard in healthcare due to hazardous substances and gas cylinders
Source: Fire and MO Newsletter
In the care sector too little is done to prevent fire. In hospitals and nursing homes there is often a lack of sprinkler installations and other extinguishing equipment, while many hazardous substances are present. Furthermore, escape and evacuation plans are often poorly arranged.
In addition, many care institutions take a very bad approach to the storage of oxygen cylinders, which can result in life-threatening situations.
This can lead to life-threatening situations. Institutions need oxygen to treat patients. Large cylinders, sometimes 50 litres, are often placed in very awkward places, such as behind a door. As a result, there is a great risk that they will fall over and leak. A small spark can then cause enormous misery. “
Hiltra:
For fire safety storage cabinets for gas cylinders, a European standard, the EN 14470-2, has been issued and implemented in the storage guideline PGS 15. The EN 14470-2 standard was actually developed from the German DIN 12925-2 standard and is aimed at protecting gas cylinders (required indoors) connected to a gas distribution system, but according to PGS 15 it may also be used as a storage cabinet. Although this standard knows several fire resistance qualifications (G15, G30, G60 and G90), only the last two categories G60 and G90, or the 60 or 90 minutes fire resistant cabinets, have been adopted in the PGS 15.
Hiltra offers four models of 90 minutes fire resistant or G90 gas cylinder storage cabinets, which have been tested in accordance with
EN 14470-2 with storage capacities from 2 10-litre bottles to 4 50-litre bottles. The cabinets are also
also tested in accordance with EN 14727 (the standard for laboratory furniture) and are supplied with GS (geprüfte Sicherheit) certificate and CE declaration.
Note: The
fire test of a gas cylinder cabinet in accordance with EN 14470-2 is not comparable with the fire test carried out on fire-resistant storage cabinets for the storage of hazardous substances in packaging, the EN 14470-1.
Cabinets according to the aforementioned standards are therefore not "interchangeable".
For the large-scale (out of doors) storage of gas bottles, Hiltra offers an extensive range of gas bottle depots in single-walled, thermally insulated or 60 and 90 minutes fire resistant versions. And, of course, custom work is possible in many cases.
possible in many cases.