Are you concerned that the concentration of flammable vapours within your flammable liquids storage cabinets exceed the workplace exposures standards? Then the solution may be to install a mechanical ventilation system to safely dissipate these hazardous vapours.

REMEMBER: It’s a requirement of Section 363 of Australian WHS Regulations to ensure that any system installed at the workplace for storing hazardous chemicals (such as a Class 3 cabinet) is only used for the purpose for which it was designed and manufactured (ie. storing flammable liquids).

Training is key. Hateley said a well-trained officer has to consider the risks a person faces when they will likely fall from being Tasered and the position of where the weapon is deployed, which is also outlined by the NSW Police Force.

Police cannot use Tasers on someone at risk of significant secondary injuries, such as someone likely to fall from a height and injure their head. Tasers cannot be used to rouse an intoxicated person or on someone who is refusing to move on from an area and who isn’t threatening police.

Unless in exceptional circumstances, police guidelines hold that Tasers shouldn’t be used against people who are elderly, handcuffed, pregnant, disabled or have a small body mass (including children). The same rules apply for people who are running away or driving.

While 50,000 volts sounds severe, it’s the amperage – or force of an electric current – that’s deadly in an electric shock. The Tasers used by NSW Police have a current of about 2 milliamps, which is enough to administer severe pain and muscle contractions but not enough to kill.

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A dwelling, residential building, place of worship, public building, school or college, hospital, theatre, and any building or open area in which persons are accustomed to assemble whether it is within or outside the property boundary of the installation.

While Hateley said it was “excruciating pain”, Tasering is often used on people in a heightened state of arousal who don’t feel the pain as intensely.

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You must isolate ignition sources from any area that is handling or storing flammable liquids due to the serious risk of fire, flashback and explosion.

IMPORTANT: Suitable personal protective equipment must comply with the relevant regulations, be fit-for-purpose, in good condition and a good fit for the staff who are wearing the equipment.

Hateley, who is a former special operations tactical officer who advocated for Tasers to come to Australia, explains what happens when a person is Tasered.

Some research has suggested subjecting someone who is experiencing excited delirium to an immense amount of pain via a Taser can worsen the syndrome and increase the risk of death, but the results are inconclusive.

“It’s the worst pain I’ve ever experienced. I’ve been OC [pepper] sprayed, I’ve been hit with all sorts of things, I’ve been shot, I’ve been stabbed and with Taser it’s just excruciating,” Hateley said.

The NSW police guidelines for Taser use warn about the risks of positional asphyxia – where the position of someone’s body interferes with their ability to breathe – which is common among people experiencing delirium or mania.

Researchers have also investigated whether Tasers are implicated in deaths caused by “excited delirium”, an acute state of agitation and stress often experienced by people who have used hard drugs or have a psychiatric illness.

Death becomes possible between 50 to 150 milliamps. That’s the range where a shock could cause ventricular fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat that stops the heart from pumping enough blood that can be deadly.

When used appropriately, Tasering is an alternative to lethal force to protect police officers, which Hateley said was crucial for their safety.

Personal protective equipment for flammable liquids should be kept in a dedicated PPE cabinet, so your team can quickly and safely access the required equipment for their daily tasks.

The required separation distance of flammable liquids storage facilities from protected places depends on the quantity and the packing group of the flammable liquids that are being stored.

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REMEMBER: Storemasta manufactures PPE storage cabinets  to help maintain the safety and longevity of your personal protective equipment. These PPE cabinets are constructed from heavy duty sheet steel and finished with a high build powder coat that helps protect the cabinet from corrosion.

You can determine your personal protective equipment requirements by reviewing each safety data sheet for the flammable liquids at your site. In addition to this guidance, you can also turn to the Australian Standard which offers general guidelines for the personal protective equipment required for flammable liquids.

In addition to these PPE requirements, it’s also essential to keep your personal protective equipment in a designate location that is well-identified and easy to access.

A review of the risk of Tasers by Australian emergency doctors noted that people who have a low body weight and are Tasered in the chest may have a higher risk of ventricular fibrillation.

As we’ve mentioned in this post, your safety data sheets are the key source of information about the hazards and requirements associated with your Class 3 Flammable Liquids.

Requirements for flammable liquids storage in AS 1940 include factors such as construction materials, spill containment, dangerous goods signage, ventilation and chemical segregation. By choosing a compliant flammable cabinet or store — and ensuring it’s installed, used and maintained in the correct manner — you can feel confident that you’re meeting your chemical compliance obligations.

“There has been plenty of occasions where people are completely off their head with drugs, alcohol ... and a Taser will incapacitate them because it attacks the skeletal muscles in the body,” Hateley said.

Flammable liquids, due to their low flash point and flammable vapours, have the potential to cause serious fires in a work environment.

When determining where to store flammable liquids in the workplace, you must consider the fact that there may be other substances in the workplace that are incompatible with flammable liquids.

Barbs that pierce someone’s face, eyes, neck, bones, groin or breast must be removed by paramedics or doctors, and an ambulance has to be called every time someone is Tasered.

This resource also details the Storemasta 4-Step Risk Management Methodology, IDENTIFY – ASSESS – CONTROL – SUSTAIN, that you can apply to your own organisation. Download your copy to learn more.

After all, when you’re carrying dangerous goods, meeting your chemical compliance obligations can be the difference between a safe workplace — and a dangerous one.

“When exposed to a person that might be [in a] rage, alcohol, drug or mentally affected, pain tolerance doesn’t mean a lot to those people,” he said.

When deployed, the handheld device releases copper wires with two darts which has “basically a fishhook” on the end. “When it hits a person wearing clothes, it’ll hook into their clothing or hook into their skin and it’s designed to only go a certain depth,” Hateley said.

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The Australian Standard AS 1940 – The storage and handling of flammable and combustible liquids outlines the storage requirements for this dangerous goods class.

To minimise fire hazards in your workplace, it is important to carry out a dangerous goods risk assessment to ensure that all flammable liquids storage cabinets are separated from ignition sources by a distance of at least 3 metres.

The body’s muscles are controlled by electrical impulses, which is why an electric shock – such as one from a Taser – triggers muscle contractions and “stuns” a target. An electric shock can interrupt the muscle contractions of the heart’s ventricles and cause dangerous arrhythmia.

When keeping safety data sheets at your workplace, you must ensure that they are current – which means no more than 5 years old. They must also be made available to your staff, in addition to any emergency services that may have to attend your site.

As we’ve already explained in this blog, Class 3 Flammable Liquids give off large quantities of flammable vapours. These vapours can have many negative health effects upon the people in the workplace. If large quantities of flammable vapours are inhaled by staff, they can suffer from nausea, headaches and asphyxiation.

They also cannot be used for crowd control, on people wielding guns or against mental health patients “solely to make them comply”. (About a third of incidents where police have used Tasers in NSW have involved people with mental health conditions.)

Are you interested in reducing your risk? Then click on the image below to access our free eBook. How To Reduce The Risk Of Flammable Liquids In The Workplace offers easy-to-understand advice about how you can make your workplace safe and compliant.

With a team of Field Auditors who visit workplaces across the country, you can guarantee that we’ve seen some strange (and often dangerous) flammable liquids storage practices.  From containers of flammable liquids left on the ground next to the safety cabinet (because the cabinet was full!) to piles of combustibles and non-hazardous substances stacked in the cabinet, you’d be surprised to know how Class 3 chemicals are being kept. If you’re a business that uses Class 3 Flammable Liquids, it’s vital that you prioritise the safe and compliant storage of your chemicals.

Injuries inflicted by the actual barbs are more widely reported. The doctors said that in at least 1 per cent of cases, the Taser’s barbs hit people in the face and there are numerous instances of eye injuries and skin lacerations.

“Police officers need an alternative to lethal force. You don’t want them shooting everyone, but you certainly don’t want them Tasering 95-year-old ladies either,” he said.

Flammable liquids must be stored in a flammable liquids storage facility that has been constructed in full conformance to the Australian Standards.

The shock of a Taser is usually too low to drastically affect the heart. Research suggests Taser-induced ventricular fibrillation is possible, particularly for people with underlying heart problems, but the risk is extremely low.

The easiest way to achieve compliance with safety data sheets is to make sure that they’re kept in a clearly marked static location. We recommend storing your safety data sheets in a waterproof document holder, and attaching this to your flammable liquids cabinet or store.

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Workers who decant or handle flammable liquids require personal protective equipment (PPE). This is to protect workers’ eyes, face, hands, ears, feet, — and other parts of the body from being splashed or exposed to hazardous chemicals.

Other researchers wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia that “the mechanical impact of the barbs, combined with the subsequent voltage released, represents a considerable hazard to eyes, genitalia and large blood vessels in the neck”.

“It’s like going to a gym session,” he said. It creates a feeling of exhilaration as the body will be hit with 50,000 volts of electricity, 19 times a second for five seconds.

Of the 9 Classes of Dangerous Goods, there are many substances that are incompatible with flammable liquids. These substances must be segregated to avoid violent chemical reactions.

To prevent flammable liquids fires, you must always ensure that stores of Class 3 Dangerous Goods are separated from ignition sources. This also includes any areas that carry or handle flammable liquids.

The Taser specialist said he used his own daughter as an example when he was training 45 special force police officers from Australia and New Zealand. “I prepared her mentally, I said ‘do not scream, there’s 45 special forces people in this room’ ... so she volunteered first. She didn’t make a sound,” he said.

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Flammable liquids storage facilities must be segregated from ignition sources by a distance of at least 3 metres. However, knowing how to identify an ignition source may not always be a straightforward process.

The use of Tasering by police has been brought under scrutiny after the death of Clare Nowland, 95, a week after she was Tasered by a police officer at a care home in Cooma.

Police are only supposed to fire a Taser to protect human life or protect themselves from violent confrontation, risk of bodily harm and dangerous animals.

To reduce the risk of human harm that flammable vapours pose in workplaces, you must store flammable liquids in a well-ventilated area. Your workplace must keep vapours at a level that is below the workplace exposure standards, otherwise, you’ll be facing financial liability due to non-compliance.

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Safety cabinets and outdoor chemical storage containers that are used for the storage of flammable liquids must be designed and manufactured in full conformance to AS 1940. The standard details all the specific requirements for the design of flammable liquids cabinets and storage facilities.

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As an extremely volatile liquid, these hazardous substances emit large amounts of flammable vapours — at room temperatures. And if these vapours meet an ignition source or incompatible chemical, your workplace could experience a devastating fire or explosion. To reduce your risks, we’re highlighting some key flammable liquid storage requirements that you can easily apply to your own organisation. These requirements include the provision of compliant storage, the isolation of ignition sources, ensuring adequate ventilation, issuing the correct PPE for your staff, and making sure you have the current safety data sheets for stored substances.

Violent chemical reactions between flammable liquids and other incompatible substances can cause fires and explosions — which, in turn, produce pungent corrosive and toxic vapours.

So, how are you storing your flammable liquids? As we’ve highlighted in this blog, a safe and compliant location for your flammable liquid stores will offer adequate ventilation and be separated from ignition sources, protected places and incompatible chemicals.

To avoid these hazardous incidents, flammable liquids must be stored in a location that is well away from other incompatible chemicals. The correct segregation distances for safely storing flammable liquids with incompatible chemicals can be determined with a dangerous goods segregation chart, but a general rule is to keep flammable liquids at least 3 to 5 metres away from any incompatible chemicals.

“Instead of a loud crackling sound, which is a normal sound of a Taser, you’ll hear a muffled sound and that means it’s a good deployment, that means the electricity is gone inside the subject’s body,” he said.

Joining the team as a Dangerous Goods Storage Consultant, Melissa Hampton became Storemasta's Marketing Manager in late 2021. With extensive knowledge and experience in chemical compliance, Melissa is responsible for leading the Marketing team and helping shape their marketing strategy. In her spare time, you can find Melissa hiking, swimming and enjoying the great outdoors in beautiful north-west Tasmania.

Naturally, your staff need their PPE and protective clothing to be on hand as they carry out their duties. However, you should never store PPE inside the flammable liquids cabinet.

“There’s a lot of things to consider in a nanosecond but, under stress, a police officer is going to revert to his training,” Hateley said.