FlammableSign

Highly flammables cabinet with non-combustible walls with bonded or fire stopped edges, fire resisting doors and hinges. Bunded base capable of holding 110% of largest contained of 50 litres (55 litres)

The purpose of storing dangerous substances in cabinets is to provide a physical barrier to delay the involvement of these materials in a fire, for sufficient time for people's safety.

The flammable liquids must be stored separately from other dangerous substances that may enhance the risk of fire or compromise the integrity of the container or cabinet.

Inflammable vsflammable

Other dangerous substances that may enhance the risk of fire or compromise the integrity of the container or cabinet/bin are, for example energetic substances, oxidizers and corrosive materials.

Flammablematerials

The use of more than one storage cabinet within a room or laboratory will therefore be necessary to contain separated substances. It may also be necessary to provide more than one highly flammables cupboard in larger rooms or laboratories where it is not practical for users to share storage space.

Highly flammable liquids are those that evaporate at room temperature. If the vapours are in the correct concentrations they will ignite in the presence of a flame or spark. The University needs to make sure that the storage is safe. This can be ensured by limiting the amount of liquid being stored and providing enough ventilation to prevent the concentration of flammable vapours reaching critical levels.

The objective is to ensure that in the event of an incident, people can safely escape from the laboratory. The risk assessment should therefore take into account:

How to pronounceflammable

Fume cupboards are not designed or intended to be used as storage areas and they should be kept clear of materials and containers when these are not needed for the ongoing operational work. Materials stored in fume cupboards may disrupt the air-flow making the fume cupboard less efficient and compromising the safety of the user.

Flammabledefinition

When not in use, containers of flammable liquids will be kept closed and stored in suitable cabinets or bins of fire-resisting construction that are designed to retain spills (110% volume of the largest vessel normally stored in it).

Flammablehazard

These cabinets are not expected to protect the contents against the effects of a fire indefinitely. When the temperature is high enough to ignite the materials being stored (auto-ignition temperature) the fire will already be at flashover, so the contents should not make a significant contribution.

Insulated cabinets are available which will protect the contents from the effect of fire by keeping the internal temperature under 200°C. These were originally designed to protect valuable materials such as archives, financial records and computer discs from fire.

The additional cost of insulated cabinets have to be weighed against the probability of a fire reaching flashover in the room and the potential contribution of the contents to the fire.

It's recognised that these other dangerous substances may be flammable liquids in their own right or held in a flammable liquid. However, it's still inappropriate to store these in the same cabinets or bins with other flammable liquids.

The Responsible Person must make sure a risk assessment has been undertaken to determine the quantity of highly flammable liquids that can be justifiably stored in any working area.