Where do you store your flammable liquids? Read on to discover the two key parts to any industrial fire prevention plan.
As you know, improper storage is the leading cause of fire in industrial facilities. And that knowledge makes fire easy to prevent.
Put simply, flammable liquids need to be stored properly, and that requires two crucial ingredients:
1) They must be stored in approved safety cans.
2) The cans need to be stored in approved safety cabinets.
For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on the second of the two. Hopefully, the liquids were already delivered in approved safety cans. If in doubt, you should check in with your safety equipment advisor to make sure, or remedy the situation.
But the next step must be to store the cans in a fireproof storage cabinet.
Why fireproof? Because the flammable liquids will feed a fire and can easily lead to explosions. In order to prevent that, they need to be safely kept away from any source of fire.
But once you’re shopping for your fireproof storage cabinets, be sure to check that they actually meet OSHA requirements and the applicable regulations of the Uniform Fire code.
If you shop with a reputable safety equipment supplier, you can be pretty much assured that all their equipment will comply with any of those regulations.
Here are some of the features to look for:
Any fireproof storage cabinet must be made out of 18 gauge steel at least.
The doors, as well as the sides, and also top and bottom need to be double-walled, and there must be 1 ½” air space between walls for extra insulation.
There must also be vents, which in turns should have 2″ threaded fittings, along with fire baffles and caps.
And of course, they should have an easy-to-clean safety yellow high gloss powder finish with big red warning labels. A grounding attachment should be included as well, along with a raised leak-proof door seal.