Compressed Gas Safety

Tim Zoz, Greg Reeder - Matheson Author

10/31/2016 Added

783 Plays

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Applicable to anyone who uses or stores compressed gases.

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[00:00:05.691]Today's topic, as I mentioned,
[00:00:07.517]is compressed gas safety.
[00:00:10.096]And today, we have two presenters,
[00:00:12.094]both from Matheson Gas.
[00:00:14.571]Many of you already know Tim Zoz.
[00:00:16.531]He studied at UNL, and has been in the business
[00:00:18.627]for 35 years, joining the organization
[00:00:21.307]when it was Linweld.
[00:00:22.326]And after holding many positions over the years,
[00:00:25.428]he now serves as an outside sales representative
[00:00:28.344]for Matheson, so many of you have already worked with him.
[00:00:32.557]Greg Reeder has been with Matheson
[00:00:34.786]since September 1988,
[00:00:37.495]and in April 2016,
[00:00:39.354]he was promoted to his current position
[00:00:42.018]of outside sales support specialist.
[00:00:45.100]Prior to that, he was an outside sales representative
[00:00:48.215]for over 16 years.
[00:00:50.060]Greg is currently a member of the American Welding Society,
[00:00:53.784]and served as the section chairman for six years
[00:00:57.732]and section vice chairman for two years.
[00:01:00.410]For the last three years, he has been
[00:01:03.058]American Welding Society
[00:01:04.455]certified welding sales representative,
[00:01:07.537]and a certified welding supervisor.
[00:01:10.618]So, Tim and Greg, welcome to UNL.
[00:01:14.045]Thank you. (audience applauds)
[00:01:15.445]Appreciate it.
[00:01:18.887]I had to put my bio together for Betsy
[00:01:21.206]kinda quickly this morning, because I got...
[00:01:24.064]I was on vacation and then getting back to Lincoln
[00:01:27.210]Monday was a nightmare, so,
[00:01:28.782]I was a little behind playin' catch-up.
[00:01:31.370]A little bit more about myself, I started,
[00:01:33.136]like she said, I started with the company 35 years ago.
[00:01:36.595]I started out workin' in our warehouse.
[00:01:38.483]I filled a lot of these gases that you use on campus.
[00:01:43.418]I loaded and unloaded trucks.
[00:01:45.444]I moved over to our sales counter.
[00:01:47.018]I worked on our sales counter for two years,
[00:01:49.661]in inside sales.
[00:01:50.802]Then I moved onto a route sales position,
[00:01:53.451]and I drove the truck that actually
[00:01:54.820]delivered to the University of Nebraska,
[00:01:57.508]City and East campus, as well as many other customers.
[00:02:01.242]So I'm very familiar with both campuses and buildings,
[00:02:03.844]and I know 'em like the back of my hand,
[00:02:05.552]pretty much, and then I...
[00:02:07.706]17 years is kinda hard on a body to move those cylinders
[00:02:10.777]all the time, climb in and out of that truck,
[00:02:12.889]so my body was telling me it was time
[00:02:15.120]to move to a different position.
[00:02:17.000]So I moved back into inside sales,
[00:02:18.799]and I was in inside sales for about four years,
[00:02:21.957]and then I'm doin' what I'm doin' now.
[00:02:23.543]So I'm an outside sales
[00:02:25.993]rep for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
[00:02:27.876]as well as about 365 other accounts.
[00:02:31.052]So I stay pretty busy.
[00:02:33.626]Greg Reeder is, I've worked with Greg
[00:02:36.456]ever since he started, I was there before Greg,
[00:02:38.330]but I've worked with Greg ever since he started, so.
[00:02:40.683]We work together pretty well.
[00:02:42.140]He's my support person, he helps me
[00:02:44.309]put a lot of things together,
[00:02:45.916]kinda free up my time to be out and deal with the end users
[00:02:49.617]and try to help find solutions and solve problems
[00:02:52.710]to the end users, you know,
[00:02:54.911]they may need a special setup, a special gas mix.
[00:03:02.010]One thing that is a little bit
[00:03:03.884]of a struggle for me sometimes
[00:03:05.251]when dealing with the end users,
[00:03:06.953]is I might get a request or an inquiry,
[00:03:10.205]can Matheson make this particular mix?
[00:03:13.885]And I'll do the research, yes, we can make the mix,
[00:03:16.605]we can make the mix in the cylinder size you would like,
[00:03:19.847]and here's your quote for price.
[00:03:22.599]Keep in mind this cylinder mix is gonna come
[00:03:24.576]from New Johnsonville, Tennessee,
[00:03:25.843]it's gonna have a five- to six-week lead time.
[00:03:30.066]I don't hear anything for weeks or maybe even months,
[00:03:34.415]and then an order just comes through for this mix.
[00:03:37.678]So I put the order through for the mix,
[00:03:39.573]I get it in the pipeline to be filled,
[00:03:42.048]and I get a call the next day from whoever needed it,
[00:03:44.775]"Hey, that cylinder wasn't on your truck today."
[00:03:47.034](audience chuckles) Yeah,
[00:03:48.242]and it's not gonna be for a while, (chuckles) so.
[00:03:51.299]You know, there are some struggles,
[00:03:54.625]but that's part of the job I do,
[00:03:57.321]that's what I do, I have to help
[00:03:58.562]to try to facilitate things like that, so.
[00:04:00.787]But today we're here to talk about compressed gas safety.
[00:04:03.992]And so we have a slideshow here for ya,
[00:04:06.232]and we'll go through some things,
[00:04:07.393]I'll add some things, Greg might add some things,
[00:04:09.616]but we'll go ahead and get started.
[00:04:14.006]The hazards of compressed gas cylinders.
[00:04:16.206]There are chemical hazards
[00:04:17.276]with the product that's in the cylinder,
[00:04:19.072]and then there are physical hazards
[00:04:20.448]with the movement of cylinders.
[00:04:21.885]Transporting cylinders,
[00:04:22.985]moving 'em from one lab to another lab,
[00:04:25.394]moving 'em from one floor to another floor.
[00:04:28.916]I will add that the cylinders really do have legs
[00:04:33.412]at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:04:35.698]And they move around.
[00:04:37.706]And I get calls from professors
[00:04:39.909]or somebody in the business office,
[00:04:42.261]"Hey, you're billin' us for three cylinders,
[00:04:43.730]"renting three cylinders, we don't have these cylinders,
[00:04:45.894]"that professor's been gone for three years."
[00:04:48.159]Well, they never came back to us,
[00:04:50.769]so they're there somewhere.
[00:04:51.906]And so I go down and meet with somebody,
[00:04:54.637]and we go and we go into the service chase or something,
[00:04:57.146]and we find 'em, and, you know.
[00:04:59.160]So I enjoy those kinds of parts of my job,
[00:05:01.741]helping solve issues and everything like that.
[00:05:04.776]But some of the physical hazards with moving cylinders,
[00:05:07.892]you always wanna us an approved cart or dolly
[00:05:10.934]that has a strap or a chain that holds that cylinder.
[00:05:13.522]Cylinders weigh about 180, 230 pounds,
[00:05:16.972]depending upon what's in 'em.
[00:05:18.452]So if they fall and land on somebody's feet or something,
[00:05:21.151]it's gonna hurt,
[00:05:23.103]and maybe cause some real physical damage,
[00:05:27.063]or it could cause physical damage if it
[00:05:28.913]fell into a piece of equipment or something like that.
[00:05:35.088]So, some of the chemical hazards.
[00:05:37.441]Inerts, of course, they're not gonna support life
[00:05:39.694]if there is a failure of a cylinder
[00:05:41.763]and there's a large release of gas
[00:05:43.093]all at once in a small area.
[00:05:44.823]It can displace the oxygen, cause asphyxia.
[00:05:48.368]Oxidizers, of course, they help everything burn.
[00:05:51.387]So anything that could burn, you mix it with an oxidizer,
[00:05:54.794]it's gonna burn a lot faster.
[00:05:56.653]Flammable, we all know what flammable is, it's dangerous.
[00:06:00.070]It can explode.
[00:06:01.325]Or toxic.
[00:06:02.158]There are a lot of really nasty gases used
[00:06:04.132]in the research field,
[00:06:06.524]and so you have to really pay attention to those toxic gases
[00:06:09.257]and what the inherent dangers or risks are.
[00:06:15.859]Flammable gas, non-flammables, oxidizers, again.
[00:06:21.855]Oxygen and gas mixtures.
[00:06:23.163]Oxygen concentrations greater than 23.5%.
[00:06:28.265]That's the placard for oxygen.
[00:06:31.152]Oxidizers, of course, they support combustion.
[00:06:34.412]Never allow petroleum-based products
[00:06:35.972]to come in contact with oxidizers.
[00:06:38.305]That's really an important one.
[00:06:40.019]When I was on the sales counter,
[00:06:42.803]we would have people come in, usually farmers,
[00:06:46.308]"Hey, my oxygen regulator was whistling,
[00:06:48.220]"so I took it apart and oiled everything up,
[00:06:50.058]"but it's still not working."
[00:06:51.338]I'm like, you're lucky you're not dead,
[00:06:53.642]'cause you put a petroleum product with pure oxygen,
[00:06:57.646]usually it's gonna explode.
[00:07:00.800]You gotta keep combustibles and flammables
[00:07:03.082]in separate storage.
[00:07:05.237]20 foot distance or five
[00:07:06.445]and 1/2 hour fire wall between them.
[00:07:09.164]So if you have oxygen and acetylene, let's say,
[00:07:12.749]they have to be 20 feet apart,
[00:07:14.506]or they have to have that 1/2 hour fire wall,
[00:07:16.213]five feet high in between them.
[00:07:18.016]And those fire walls are pretty expensive.
[00:07:20.055]So it's easier just to have 'em separate.
[00:07:24.431]Oxygen is an odorless, colorless gas.
[00:07:27.308]Non-flammable, but it is necessary
[00:07:29.149]for other material to burn.
[00:07:31.047]And it can cause hyperoxia.
[00:07:33.213]That's too high of a concentration of oxygen
[00:07:36.025]in your system and your body and your organs.
[00:07:45.952]That's an oxygen cylinder on the left, of course,
[00:07:49.213]and as you can see, somebody had a mishap
[00:07:51.025]with an oxygen cylinder and petroleum products on the right.
[00:07:56.746]Nitrogen, argon, helium, and CO2.
[00:07:59.736]Nitrogen is probably predominantly the highest
[00:08:04.888]volume of gases we sell to the university.
[00:08:06.849]It's used for many, many processes,
[00:08:09.092]and as a carrier gas in a lot of instrumentation.
[00:08:13.454]Helium, we use a lot of ultra...
[00:08:16.238]The university uses a lot of
[00:08:17.442]high-purity or ultra-high-purity helium in research.
[00:08:22.494]Simple asphyxiates which can displace oxygen, of course,
[00:08:25.894]and they do not support life.
[00:08:27.431]So, like I said,
[00:08:28.264]if there was a catastrophic failure of a cylinder,
[00:08:30.940]if it got tipped over and the cylinder valve got broke off
[00:08:33.106]and you have a whole bunch of nitrogen, argon, or helium
[00:08:36.143]being dispersed into a small area,
[00:08:38.324]it'll displace the oxygen, and it does not take very long
[00:08:41.462]for a person to lose consciousness in a situation like that.
[00:08:49.977]Inert gas is used in well-ventilated areas,
[00:08:52.136]usually a lot of the
[00:08:55.269]labs, you'll see hoods,
[00:08:57.422]where they do the research actually in the hood,
[00:08:59.569]and that helps carry the gas away,
[00:09:01.321]so it's not being exposed to people in the lab.
[00:09:04.888]Do not dispose or vent off unused quantities.
[00:09:07.547]Another thing important here is,
[00:09:10.264]the cylinders are pretty critical,
[00:09:12.496]especially in the ultra-high-purity gases.
[00:09:16.621]Those cylinders need to be very clean inside,
[00:09:19.339]and we have a process in Waverly, Nebraska
[00:09:21.214]at our hub facility for cleaning the cylinders
[00:09:23.473]and baking the cylinders.
[00:09:25.591]We do that on any cylinder that comes back
[00:09:27.489]with the valve open, because now it's been exposed
[00:09:29.444]to the atmosphere and to moisture.
[00:09:32.985]So then we have to put 'em in the heater and burn that off.
[00:09:38.636]Monitor for oxygen.
[00:09:40.249]19 1/2, you know, is the minimum
[00:09:43.644]you're gonna need if you're in a confined space.
[00:09:47.561]There's just a picture of somebody that's in trouble.
[00:09:52.751]Argon is an odorless, colorless gas.
[00:09:55.010]It can be stored with flammables or combustibles,
[00:09:57.567]because it's not an oxidizer,
[00:09:59.031]so it doesn't support combustion.
[00:10:03.453]Flammables.
[00:10:04.286]Acetylene, propane, propylene.
[00:10:10.171]Flammables in concentration of 13% or less in air by volume.
[00:10:14.619]Get above that, and you get a very explosive situation.
[00:10:19.251]Gas in flammable range greater than 12% by volume.
[00:10:30.490]Flammables should be stored in a well-ventilated location,
[00:10:33.696]kept away from heat sources,
[00:10:35.719]and store them away from oxidizers or combustibles,
[00:10:38.016]unless you have that 1/2 hour fire wall in between them.
[00:10:45.943]These are just some examples.
[00:10:48.071]That's an acetylene cylinder on the left,
[00:10:49.569]with the regulator on it.
[00:10:51.891]Acetylene gas is extremely explosive above 15 psi,
[00:10:55.862]so most acetylene regulators you'll see,
[00:10:57.977]if you can see on the left-hand gauge there's,
[00:11:01.425]at the top, then there's a red line that goes
[00:11:04.204]to the rest of the...
[00:11:06.222]Balance of the gauge, that's anything over 15 psi.
[00:11:10.207]Acetylene in a hose at greater than 15 psi,
[00:11:13.067]if you drop something heavy on that hose,
[00:11:15.174]it's very likely to explode.
[00:11:16.790]It's that
[00:11:19.471]sensitive.
[00:11:20.849]And then on the right is just a picture
[00:11:22.470]of a couple of 100-pound propane cylinders
[00:11:24.514]that caught fire and burned that truck up.
[00:11:27.134]One of 'em ruptured.
[00:11:31.739]Acetylene has a slight garlic-like odor.
[00:11:34.453]It burns easily in air.
[00:11:37.811]It's very widely used right now.
[00:11:40.342]There are some newer products coming online
[00:11:42.672]that some companies are producing to replace acetylene.
[00:11:46.393]Acetylene is one of the hottest flames you can have.
[00:11:50.193]They're gettin' close, but a lot of the time,
[00:11:52.355]you wanna have acetylene if you're gonna
[00:11:53.633]be doin' any kind of welding.
[00:11:55.289]With cutting, you can use propane or propylene to cut steel,
[00:12:00.097]but it's not nearly as hot.
[00:12:02.702]And again, there it is,
[00:12:03.543]may be explosive under high pressure,
[00:12:05.507]so it's recommended to never be used over 15 psi.
[00:12:17.362]There we go.
[00:12:20.318]Toxics.
[00:12:22.706]Arsine, nitrogen, dioxide, boron, and trichloride.
[00:12:27.624]These materials are capable of causing
[00:12:29.683]death or serious debilatation.
[00:12:31.839]In absence of data on human toxicity
[00:12:34.078]tested on laboratory animals has a LC50 value.
[00:12:38.124]So, like I said, there are some pretty nasty gases used
[00:12:42.039]in the research, and so you have to be
[00:12:45.268]well-informed of what those are.
[00:12:47.768]Sometimes you have students in the labs,
[00:12:50.288]and they may not be aware that these gases
[00:12:52.812]are as harmful as they can be, so.
[00:12:55.762]It's good to educate the people
[00:12:58.039]that are are actually in the labs using this material.
[00:13:03.765]Some examples of things that you can use
[00:13:07.352]to kinda minimize the risk of these toxic gases.
[00:13:12.437]On the upper left is what they call a gas cabinet.
[00:13:15.140]And these cylinders of these nasty gases,
[00:13:19.090]harmful gases, are in a gas cabinet.
[00:13:21.050]That gas cabinet is sealed.
[00:13:22.538]That gas cabinet needs to be vented
[00:13:24.213]to the outside atmosphere in case there's a failure
[00:13:26.473]and there's a release of that toxic gas.
[00:13:28.981]I have been called, and I can't remember who called me,
[00:13:31.644]but it was early on when I became a sales rep,
[00:13:34.704]and they had a question on a gas cabinet.
[00:13:36.406]Well, the gas cabinet was installed properly in the lab,
[00:13:39.487]and the cylinders were secured properly in the gas cabinet,
[00:13:42.285]but the gas cabinet vent just went, and just right there.
[00:13:45.347]It wasn't vented to the outside, so.
[00:13:47.234]And the gas cabinets are pretty expensive,
[00:13:48.700]so the gas cabinet in that situation in that lab
[00:13:50.849]was not doing them any good,
[00:13:51.868]it was not protecting them at all from those gases.
[00:13:55.407]There's a monitor, that upper right is a gas monitor,
[00:13:59.903]that'll monitor what kind of gases are in the atmosphere.
[00:14:03.038]Lower left is just an example of some poisonous gases.
[00:14:08.092]I think, you're Tony?
[00:14:09.902]Yes.
[00:14:10.945]I think you guys have some of these kinds
[00:14:13.607]of small cylinders of toxic gases
[00:14:15.555]sometimes you have to get rid of, is that correct?
[00:14:17.546]It is.
[00:14:18.379]Okay, and you found an outlet for it.
[00:14:20.520]Yeah, it's tricky, but we can take care of 'em.
[00:14:22.203]Okay.
[00:14:23.040]And then on the lower right is just an example
[00:14:24.981]of a gas mask that could be worn
[00:14:26.633]in the presence of a toxic gas release.
[00:14:39.243]Cylinder identification.
[00:14:40.379]Every gas cylinder or vessel must be clearly labeled.
[00:14:43.085]It must have the product name,
[00:14:44.237]the DOT ID number, the DOT hazard class,
[00:14:48.200]the manufacturer name and location,
[00:14:49.982]which for us would be Matheson,
[00:14:52.328]and a precautionary statement.
[00:14:53.853]Those things all have to be on
[00:14:55.335]that product label on that cylinder.
[00:14:58.361]We have some people that bring in cylinders
[00:15:00.002]they've bought online to be filled at our retail location
[00:15:02.859]at 6901 Cornhusker.
[00:15:05.023]If somebody brings in a cylinder
[00:15:06.523]and there isn't a label on it that has
[00:15:08.180]all of that on it telling us what's in that cylinder,
[00:15:10.659]we can't do anything with it at all.
[00:15:12.855]We can't bring it into the facility,
[00:15:15.132]we can't touch it, we can't do anything with it.
[00:15:17.703]So I always caution people, you know,
[00:15:19.367]if you're lookin' for cylinders for yourself,
[00:15:20.804]if you want a cylinder of CO2
[00:15:22.240]for your kegerator or something,
[00:15:24.240]you know, those are a little bit different,
[00:15:25.603]but you gotta be careful when you buy cylinders online.
[00:15:29.587]Some people have bought, actually,
[00:15:31.915]hasn't happened locally with us,
[00:15:33.472]luckily, but there was a story out here
[00:15:37.256]a couple of years ago that somebody bought a used cylinder
[00:15:40.256]and they took it into a facility to be filled,
[00:15:42.280]I believe it was down in the Southeast.
[00:15:44.593]Well, the cylinder had been damaged,
[00:15:46.621]and whoever damaged the cylinder actually used
[00:15:48.979]automotive body filler to fill in that big dent
[00:15:52.962]in the side of the cylinder, sanded it down, and painted it.
[00:15:55.432]It went to a company like Matheson, it wasn't Matheson,
[00:15:59.763]they didn't do the proper check of that cylinder
[00:16:02.235]before they hooked it up to their fill station.
[00:16:04.621]They started filling that cylinder with high-pressure gas.
[00:16:08.010]In a high-pressure, high-fast-fill situation,
[00:16:11.087]that pressure vessel, that cylinder actually ruptured
[00:16:14.858]and actually caused quite a bit of damage
[00:16:16.785]and some real harm, so.
[00:16:18.706]There's some things with cylinders
[00:16:19.826]you gotta be really, really careful of.
[00:16:22.296]If it's been burned, of course,
[00:16:24.088]that's something people will try to paint the cylinder
[00:16:26.508]'cause cylinders are expensive.
[00:16:28.458]If it's gotten burned, they paint it,
[00:16:29.808]and they bring it in and they say,
[00:16:30.883]"Here, I need this exchanged."
[00:16:32.150]Well, there's no label on it.
[00:16:34.060]This looks like fresh paint.
[00:16:35.424]What's the story?
[00:16:36.569]So we have to be pretty careful
[00:16:38.118]with some of the things we do, of course.
[00:16:40.743]And so does the end user.
[00:16:42.325]Like I said, you have to be aware
[00:16:43.259]of what you're working with.
[00:16:52.464]Cylinder identification.
[00:16:53.847]You never wanna rely on the color
[00:16:55.360]of a cylinder for identification.
[00:16:57.225]With Matheson, all of our oxygen cylinders are green.
[00:17:02.022]But if you went to another supplier,
[00:17:04.318]they might paint 'em brown, which, normally for us,
[00:17:07.055]would be an argon cylinder.
[00:17:08.995]So, you never wanna rely on the color of a cylinder
[00:17:11.570]to try to figure out what's in the cylinder.
[00:17:15.145]And always make sure the product label
[00:17:17.129]properly identifies what's in the cylinder.
[00:17:18.805]That's an example of a liquid argon product label.
[00:17:31.251]Never modify, cover, or remove a label,
[00:17:33.112]of course, like we've been talking about this morning.
[00:17:36.326]Those are very important things.
[00:17:40.277]If you're in commerce, of course,
[00:17:41.651]you can't transport cylinders
[00:17:42.859]unless they're properly labeled
[00:17:44.163]according to the DOT regulations.
[00:17:49.069]If a cylinder label becomes illegible or detached,
[00:17:52.976]write the product name with a black marker,
[00:17:55.174]or mark as contents unknown if unknown.
[00:17:57.821]Contact the manufacturer or distributor.
[00:18:00.494]That's a little misleading, because, as I've said,
[00:18:03.641]our company policy is if it's not properly labeled,
[00:18:06.376]we can't do anything with it at all.
[00:18:09.707]So what do they do with it,
[00:18:11.197]if you have a cylinder that has no markings on it,
[00:18:13.433]is it useless?
[00:18:14.266]How do you empty the contents?
[00:18:15.342]They could either try to take it to a competitor of ours
[00:18:17.660]to see if they will fill it.
[00:18:20.259]We have dealers, we call 'em dealers,
[00:18:23.395]that sell our cylinders and our product for us.
[00:18:26.105]Sometimes people will take 'em to,
[00:18:27.818]like, Orscheln is a good example here in Lincoln.
[00:18:30.989]They've got about four cylinders
[00:18:33.098]in their cylinder storage area
[00:18:34.372]because somebody brought in a cylinder without a label.
[00:18:36.591]They gave 'em a cylinder that was labeled properly,
[00:18:38.938]let's say an oxygen, we show up and it's like,
[00:18:42.378]I can't take this cylinder, and we explain why,
[00:18:44.494]well, they're just out now.
[00:18:46.042]So a lot of times you can take 'em
[00:18:48.714]to a scrap yard like Alter Scrap.
[00:18:51.987]But I know, Alter Scrap, if you take a cylinder there,
[00:18:54.050]it has to cut in half or they won't take it.
[00:18:57.546]So you gotta be careful.
[00:18:59.271]Some people wheel and deal out there
[00:19:01.218]in the countryside, and, you know, some things happen.
[00:19:04.387]It's really kinda hard to tell somebody
[00:19:06.639]that brings in a cylinder to get filled,
[00:19:08.205]and, you know, they've got a job to do,
[00:19:09.364]and they bring in a cylinder, there's no label on it,
[00:19:10.743]I can't help you.
[00:19:13.045]Well, what am I gonna do?
[00:19:15.280]Where'd you get it?
[00:19:16.911]Well, my friend traded me for it.
[00:19:20.191]I hope you can trade him back,
[00:19:21.600](chuckles) 'cause I can't do anything with it.
[00:19:25.026]So, and like I said, some of the physical hazards
[00:19:27.355]of compressed gas cylinders,
[00:19:29.444]it's very high pressure, sometimes up to 3,000,
[00:19:33.433]well, they can be up to 6,000 psi, that's pretty uncommon,
[00:19:36.820]but they can, about 2,400, 2,500 psi, is what's in there.
[00:19:41.548]That's a lot of energy stored in a small space.
[00:19:44.631]And so it's pretty catastrophic if something were to happen
[00:19:47.092]to that cylinder and that product is released suddenly.
[00:19:51.458]One of the most dangerous things that can happen
[00:19:53.274]with a high-pressure cylinder, is if you're moving it,
[00:19:56.920]and you don't have the safety cap on the cylinder,
[00:19:59.008]and it happens to get loose or get away from you,
[00:20:01.728]and it falls, and that cylinder valve gets sheared off
[00:20:04.309]or, worse yet, just broken open and bent in half,
[00:20:09.037]that cylinder's gonna take off like a rocket,
[00:20:11.190]'cause all that pressure's gotta get somewhere, so.
[00:20:13.687]They're very heavy, and in situations like that,
[00:20:16.118]it's very dangerous, 'cause if they run into somebody,
[00:20:18.031]it's gonna be pretty bad.
[00:20:21.081]The weight, had I mentioned,
[00:20:22.532]they're very heavy cylinders,
[00:20:23.729]you have to be careful with them.
[00:20:25.654]Stability, you have to have 'em stored
[00:20:27.368]or transported with a proper cart or dolly.
[00:20:31.584]Like I said, mechanical failure, sometimes people do,
[00:20:35.202](chuckles) sometimes people do some crazy stuff.
[00:20:37.911]And I've worked long enough with this kind of thing
[00:20:41.040]and you hear some really strange stories.
[00:20:43.779]"Hey, I couldn't get the cylinder valve open,
[00:20:45.619]"so I started takin' it apart, and then I thought,
[00:20:48.387]"well, maybe that's not a good idea."
[00:20:49.656]No.
[00:20:50.489]It's not a good idea to try to repair the cylinder valve.
[00:20:52.760]If there's ever an issue with any of the cylinders,
[00:20:54.801]and this has happened with the University of Nebraska,
[00:20:58.494]I'll get a call from somebody,
[00:20:59.518]"Hey, we got a cylinder delivered today.
[00:21:02.115]"We can't get the valve open.
[00:21:03.226]"What do we do?"
[00:21:04.220]Don't worry about it.
[00:21:05.053]I'll come down and look at it myself,
[00:21:07.051]and see if I can get it open.
[00:21:08.370]If not, we'll replace the cylinder tomorrow
[00:21:10.312]with a fresh cylinder.
[00:21:11.902]More often than not, I go into the lab,
[00:21:14.440]and I meet whoever called me, and they're like,
[00:21:17.629]"Well, here it is over here, we've had everybody in the lab,
[00:21:20.697]"nobody can open this valve."
[00:21:22.398]And I go over and I just crank it open.
[00:21:24.780]Because some people don't understand,
[00:21:27.536]those cylinder valves have a little bit of a give,
[00:21:30.472]before they actually engage the internal parts
[00:21:33.201]of the cylinder valve that'll open the cylinder valve.
[00:21:35.814]So they think by just turning it like that,
[00:21:37.942]well, it won't open.
[00:21:39.333]Well, yeah, it will.
[00:21:40.907]I've actually had people be like,
[00:21:42.692]"Man, you must be really strong!
[00:21:44.886]"We had a bunch of big guys,
[00:21:45.985]"and they couldn't open that cylinder."
[00:21:47.339]It's like, they might have been scared
[00:21:49.750]that something was gonna go wrong.
[00:21:51.144]I don't know.
[00:21:51.977]I'm not a strong guy, by the way.
[00:21:53.218](chuckles) I don't work...
[00:21:55.332]I need to work out but I don't work out, so.
[00:21:57.977]There's a lot of funny things happen.
[00:22:01.091]And, again, movement.
[00:22:02.720]You gotta make sure that you're usin'
[00:22:03.924]a proper cart or dolly that has a strap
[00:22:06.238]or a chain to hold that cylinder while you're moving it.
[00:22:12.657]Recognize the hazards.
[00:22:14.943]The top picture is an example of a
[00:22:17.290]high-pressure compressed gas cylinder inside of a vehicle.
[00:22:20.506]And it was actually, I believe, in that situation,
[00:22:24.259]I think it was a flammable cylinder
[00:22:26.406]that they left in the vehicle overnight.
[00:22:28.292]It had a small leak, and the inside of the vehicle
[00:22:30.862]filled with the gas, and I think it was propane.
[00:22:34.577]Well, they got up in the morning to go to work,
[00:22:36.644]and they just come out,
[00:22:38.034]and they hit their little automatic opener,
[00:22:40.717]and the spark from the door solenoid
[00:22:43.633]ignited that gas and blew that vehicle up.
[00:22:46.602]So, you're never supposed to store
[00:22:48.142]high-pressure cylinders in a...
[00:22:50.556]There's guidelines, definitely never store or transport
[00:22:54.598]flammable gases inside of a vehicle.
[00:22:57.279]We have people that bring 'em in to the store to be filled,
[00:23:00.158]and they've got three or four acetylenes
[00:23:02.601]in the back of their minivan, it's like, uh,
[00:23:06.264]I can't do anything with this.
[00:23:08.072]I can't help you.
[00:23:08.936]I can't give you full cylinders
[00:23:10.338]knowing you're gonna put 'em back in your minivan,
[00:23:12.600]because now we're liable if you go down the street
[00:23:14.751]and somethin' happens, plus I'm lookin' out for your safety.
[00:23:18.651]You don't want these flammable cylinders
[00:23:20.962]inside of wehicles.
[00:23:28.882]This is an interesting one here in consequences.
[00:23:31.367]Activation of relief device.
[00:23:34.290]All cylinders have what's called a safety.
[00:23:36.883]And that safety is...
[00:23:39.839]Is rated for whatever the pressure in that cylinder is.
[00:23:42.789]So, you have, typical high-pressure cylinders
[00:23:46.112]are 1,800 to 3,000 psi.
[00:23:48.320]CO2's a little bit of a different story.
[00:23:50.041]CO2's around 700, 750, depending upon
[00:23:52.453]the temperature of the CO2.
[00:23:53.981]CO2 is stored in the cylinder as a liquid.
[00:23:58.047]Whether you're gonna use the liquid or use the gas,
[00:24:00.915]it's stored in the cylinder as a liquid.
[00:24:03.351]So that liquid is always trying to reconvert into a gas.
[00:24:07.135]So, CO2 cylinders, sometimes, in the summertime,
[00:24:10.199]if they're left somewhere really hot,
[00:24:12.069]or if they're left in a really hot vehicle,
[00:24:14.306]that cylinder pressure can get high enough
[00:24:16.044]to exceed the safety limit on that safety,
[00:24:18.569]and then the safety will rupture.
[00:24:20.358]And when that happens, that gas is coming out
[00:24:22.736]at a very rapid rate.
[00:24:23.951]So if you're driving down the highway and that happens,
[00:24:26.425]it's gonna be hard for you to get the windows down
[00:24:28.954]or stop before you become asphyxiated.
[00:24:37.316]Weight, causes.
[00:24:38.758]Well, it's heavy.
[00:24:40.338]Nitrogen at 160 to 251 pounds.
[00:24:43.704]Argon can be up to 1059 pounds, depending upon the vessel.
[00:24:48.168]You know, I'm sure you've all seen the big silver
[00:24:51.956]liquid nitrogen dewars in labs and things like that.
[00:24:54.581]Those are very heavy, again.
[00:24:56.363]You have to have a very well-designed,
[00:24:59.168]specifically-designed cart to transport those.
[00:25:03.669]You don't, there is a ring around the top,
[00:25:05.699]and it looks like it's a handle ring.
[00:25:07.660]Definitely don't wanna try to pull that over
[00:25:09.584]and start movin' that cylinder somewhere by yourself,
[00:25:12.746]'cause it's got a very high tipping point as well,
[00:25:15.531]if it's full, so if it starts to get away from you,
[00:25:18.890]you're not gonna stop.
[00:25:19.841]Well, you might be able to.
[00:25:21.066]Most people aren't gonna stop (chuckles) it.
[00:25:25.087]You look like you work out.
[00:25:27.156]Yeah.
[00:25:27.989](audience and Tim laugh)
[00:25:39.460]These are some examples of
[00:25:41.850]proper cylinder transport devices.
[00:25:44.697]This is what's called a cluster.
[00:25:46.369]They can have up to 12 cylinders, and they're on wheels.
[00:25:48.916]They also have pockets for forks,
[00:25:50.314]so forklifts can pick 'em up and move 'em around.
[00:25:53.284]There's an example of one of those liquid vessels,
[00:25:55.530]and the proper cart, it engages a slot
[00:25:58.342]in the top of the...
[00:26:00.120]One of the uprights.
[00:26:01.694]And then, you can pull it back, and as you can see,
[00:26:03.405]it's got outrigger wheels, so it's easy
[00:26:05.803]to get it pulled back safely,
[00:26:07.501]and then you can move it around.
[00:26:09.118]Some of the consequences in dealing
[00:26:10.511]with these kinds of cylinders.
[00:26:13.237]You get your finger in between
[00:26:14.512]two kinds of cylinders and it's gonna smash it.
[00:26:16.198]That hurts.
[00:26:17.031]Trust me, I know.
[00:26:18.380]Strain your back, broken foot.
[00:26:21.641]When we're moving these cylinders around,
[00:26:23.594]we're all required to wear, of course,
[00:26:25.717]gloves, safety glasses, and steel-toed shoes.
[00:26:29.212]And the reason I learned early on
[00:26:30.945]that they're heavy and they have a high,
[00:26:32.449]these liquid cylinders have a high...
[00:26:37.835]Center of gravity.
[00:26:39.061]The center of gravity, thank you.
[00:26:40.907]Is because I was young, and I was working in the warehouse,
[00:26:42.968]I'd only been there for about a year and a half,
[00:26:44.827]and I had to move a liquid argon cylinder from
[00:26:49.120]a truck bed to the dock.
[00:26:50.983]Well, I had to bridge a gap about this big,
[00:26:53.180]and instead of going and getting a ramp,
[00:26:54.476]which I should have done,
[00:26:55.988]I tried to grab the cylinder and walk it over to the dock
[00:26:59.081]and get it back, get it up on the dock.
[00:27:00.819]There's also about a six-inch lift.
[00:27:04.690]The cylinder started to get away from me.
[00:27:07.343]I held on as good as I could,
[00:27:09.466]and I was in a lot better shape then than I am now.
[00:27:12.063]I was able to slow it down,
[00:27:13.238]but as I leaned back to get out of the way,
[00:27:16.324]that cylinder actually clipped my steel-toed shoe,
[00:27:19.317]and it took the steel toe
[00:27:20.816]and it clamped it around my foot.
[00:27:23.289]Luckily, it didn't break my foot, it didn't hurt my toes,
[00:27:26.596]but it was hard to get that boot off,
[00:27:28.527]and, of course, now I gotta go buy a new pair of boots.
[00:27:31.094]So, you gotta be careful with these cylinders.
[00:27:33.807]Recognize the risks of the weight
[00:27:36.657]and the different things that can go wrong.
[00:27:46.613]Again, recognize the hazards.
[00:27:48.088]Stability, causes.
[00:27:49.549]Naturally unstable.
[00:27:51.832]Transitions from one, like an elevator,
[00:27:54.509]if the elevator is not level with the floor.
[00:27:58.426]Uneven surfaces, if there's debris on the floors.
[00:28:01.936]Consequences, again, falling cylinders.
[00:28:04.960]An entire pile of cylinders getting knocked over,
[00:28:07.653]and I've done that in our warehouse before, a long time ago.
[00:28:12.239]Or a liquid container tipping over,
[00:28:13.932]like I was just talking about.
[00:28:16.225]When these, if you have a big set of these cylinders,
[00:28:19.597]and you do something wrong,
[00:28:20.956]and you get them to tipping over,
[00:28:22.296]trust me, it's really loud,
[00:28:24.365](chuckles) and it's really frightening.
[00:28:27.368]As long as the cylinder cap is in place
[00:28:30.465]and secure on the cylinder, they're actually very safe.
[00:28:34.286]When I was
[00:28:36.494]on the route delivery truck,
[00:28:38.765]I actually had cylinders, it was in the wintertime
[00:28:41.575]and things weren't quite as safe as they are now,
[00:28:44.737]but I actually had, two or three times,
[00:28:47.588]had cylinders that fell off of the back of the truck
[00:28:49.782]and landed on the cap and nothing happened.
[00:28:52.091]So it's always very important, if you're...
[00:28:54.166]You know, and I see it happen in labs a lot
[00:28:56.207]when I'm on either campus,
[00:28:58.616]somebody needs to unhook a helium cylinder
[00:29:01.218]and move it from this instrument to this instrument,
[00:29:03.107]and they unhook the helium cylinder
[00:29:04.526]and then they just start rollin' it over there.
[00:29:06.421]That's really dangerous.
[00:29:07.867]You don't wanna do that.
[00:29:08.940]You've gotta make sure that, I don't,
[00:29:10.504]even if you're only moving it a couple of, three feet,
[00:29:13.422]you need to make sure that cylinder cap is on.
[00:29:15.305]It's kind of a nuisance to put it on and take it off,
[00:29:17.426]if you gotta move the cylinder around a lot,
[00:29:19.452]but those are brass valves, and it doesn't take,
[00:29:22.352]they're heavy cylinders.
[00:29:23.185]It doesn't take much to break that valve off.
[00:29:29.542]Mechanical failure, recognize the hazards, again.
[00:29:32.812]The cylinder could fail, the valves could fail,
[00:29:34.790]or the regulator could fail.
[00:29:36.274]These cylinders are actually very, very safe.
[00:29:40.486]They get hydrostatically tested on a regular basis.
[00:29:44.579]It depends upon what the gas is, how old the cylinder is.
[00:29:46.832]It could be every 10 years or every five years
[00:29:49.951]that the cylinder gets taken into our facility
[00:29:52.208]or anybody's facility.
[00:29:53.566]The contents get drained out, the cylinder valve is removed.
[00:29:56.639]The cylinder is then placed in a...
[00:29:59.138]Filled with water, then it's placed,
[00:30:01.127]there's a head that screws onto that,
[00:30:03.889]and then the cylinder is actually placed
[00:30:05.332]inside of another cylinder that's filled with water.
[00:30:08.081]And then there's an air seal
[00:30:10.414]that seals that head piece to the bigger cylinder,
[00:30:14.039]and then the cylinder is pressurized
[00:30:15.470]to a set pressure to measure the displacement.
[00:30:19.881]So the cylinder retesting machine,
[00:30:24.149]the high pressure's put into the cylinder.
[00:30:26.622]It measures how much water is displaced,
[00:30:28.684]and then when the pressure is removed,
[00:30:30.040]it measures how much water returns.
[00:30:32.781]So then it can tell there's too much flex in the cylinder,
[00:30:36.489]and then it gets scrapped.
[00:30:38.922]Bottom is an example of a regulator that caught fire.
[00:30:42.165]It's not real common, but it does happen,
[00:30:44.525]usually more out in the rural areas.
[00:30:46.777]Not pickin' on anybody, if anybody's a farmer here.
[00:30:56.864]There are just some examples of mechanical failures.
[00:31:00.256]Over pressurization, backflow.
[00:31:02.919]Backflow is usually more associated with
[00:31:05.280]oxyacetylene torch outfits.
[00:31:07.078]If they're not turned off properly,
[00:31:08.942]you can get acetylene backflowing to the oxygen.
[00:31:12.287]Flashback is if the torch fails
[00:31:14.983]or if you cut the hose, you can have a flashback fire
[00:31:17.937]through the hose back to the cylinder.
[00:31:19.732]That's why it's always recommended to use
[00:31:21.175]flashback arrestors on the cylinder regulators.
[00:31:25.217]They could be damaged in transportation,
[00:31:27.042]they could have worn threads.
[00:31:29.577]The valve packing and seats could be worn and not safe.
[00:31:34.741]You can have flying debris, property damage,
[00:31:36.558]injury, or death.
[00:31:38.690]It's not on our slide, but there's an example here
[00:31:41.149]about a year and a half ago, and Greg, where was that,
[00:31:44.256]that the guy was taking the valve out of a
[00:31:47.365]small medical oxygen cylinder?
[00:31:51.181]I think that was Oregon.
[00:31:52.666]Okay, well, he needed to do maintenance on the cylinder,
[00:31:55.935]so he decided to take the valve out of the cylinder,
[00:31:58.269]so he put the cylinder in a vice,
[00:32:00.096]he got a big wrench, and he started takin' that valve out.
[00:32:02.407]Well, the cylinder ruptured, and it tore his arm off.
[00:32:07.223]So, you know, you gotta be careful.
[00:32:09.466]And I always tell everybody that I deal with,
[00:32:12.004]if you have any issue with a cylinder at all, call me.
[00:32:15.340]I'll come and look at it.
[00:32:16.317]If need be, we'll get you a replacement cylinder
[00:32:18.116]as soon as possible.
[00:32:23.394]Moving cylinders.
[00:32:25.196]Loss of control while you're rolling the cylinders.
[00:32:27.938]Trying to catch a falling cylinder,
[00:32:29.421]you can pull your shoulder or tear some ligaments.
[00:32:33.058]Misalignment of cart hooks.
[00:32:35.152]Failure to secure the cart, again.
[00:32:37.293]If you're gonna transport cylinders,
[00:32:38.225]you gotta make sure that you have
[00:32:39.316]the proper cart or dolly with a chain or a strap
[00:32:41.381]to secure the cylinder to the cart.
[00:32:45.324]When I first started for Linweld,
[00:32:47.270]we had a guy in the warehouse, he was our warehouse manager
[00:32:49.629]and his name was Paul Westbrook.
[00:32:51.692]And so, as employees, it was always important
[00:32:55.553]and they wanted us to learn how to roll
[00:32:57.100]two cylinders as soon as possible.
[00:32:59.788]So, you'd start practicing rolling two cylinders,
[00:33:02.503]and it's not as easy as it looks.
[00:33:03.988]If you see somebody doin' it,
[00:33:05.950]you gotta get the balance just right and everything.
[00:33:07.961]But, anyway, he told everybody that started there
[00:33:11.274]that there was a national cylinder rolling contest
[00:33:13.969]every year, so, (audience chuckles)
[00:33:15.312]so if you get really good at it,
[00:33:17.426]we'll enter you in that contest.
[00:33:18.854]I think it was just his way of motivating us
[00:33:20.749]to learn how to do it better or faster.
[00:33:23.739]But, well, what's this cylinder rolling contest, Paul?
[00:33:26.166]There's no cylinder rolling contest.
[00:33:28.400](chuckles) Did you get told that, Greg?
[00:33:31.595](chuckles) I thought you probably did.
[00:33:36.477]Again, more hazards.
[00:33:37.782]This is an example of a cylinder, something's gone wrong
[00:33:40.731]while they're trying to fill it or use it.
[00:33:44.260]Again, just personal injury.
[00:33:45.680]Smashed hand, back strain, shoulder strain, a broken foot,
[00:33:49.334]internal injuries, finger amputation.
[00:33:53.704]When I first started on the sales counter,
[00:33:57.136]I worked with a person named Bob Haberman.
[00:33:58.829]He used to be the sales rep for the university.
[00:34:02.104]And I was workin' on the counter,
[00:34:03.584]I asked him one day, I said,
[00:34:04.848]"Bob, why are a bunch of these people comin' in
[00:34:07.542]"and they've just got half their fingers gone?"
[00:34:10.011]And he goes, "'Cause it's kind of a dangerous thing."
[00:34:14.445]I'm like, "Really?"
[00:34:16.312]"Yeah."
[00:34:20.550]Cylinder storage, of course.
[00:34:22.931]I don't know how well you can see it,
[00:34:24.187]but in the upper-right hand picture,
[00:34:25.538]there's a picture of a torch cart.
[00:34:27.006]That's an oxyacetylene torch cart,
[00:34:28.762]there's an acetylene cylinder on the left,
[00:34:30.066]an oxygen cylinder on the right.
[00:34:31.925]Buried in a whole bunch of stuff it shouldn't be buried in.
[00:34:36.353]You need to store 'em in a dry, ventilated location.
[00:34:38.601]You gotta secure them from falling or rolling.
[00:34:41.618]Protect from falling objects,
[00:34:43.166]if something were to fall on the cylinder and knock it over.
[00:34:45.647]Of course, don't use it as a door stop.
[00:34:47.727]That's not real good.
[00:34:49.587]And, of course, keep the valve closed when not in use.
[00:34:52.463]That's pretty simple there.
[00:34:57.172]So, again, there's an example of a cylinder
[00:34:59.055]that failed inside of a van.
[00:35:01.842]Domed the roof of the van and pretty much mangled it up.
[00:35:06.333]Store with the valve closed and the cap on, if possible.
[00:35:08.684]Now, a lot of people don't do that, especially in the labs,
[00:35:11.317]they leave the cylinder regulators hooked up.
[00:35:13.102]That's perfectly fine, if you've got the proper restraint.
[00:35:16.351]If you've got a wall mount and a strap
[00:35:18.733]that goes around the cylinder,
[00:35:19.718]or there's table mounts that have a strap
[00:35:21.898]that'll go around the cylinder.
[00:35:24.113]Hand tighten the caps, of course,
[00:35:25.211]you don't wanna over-tighten 'em.
[00:35:26.668]Do not store in extreme temperatures
[00:35:28.331]near flames or direct heat.
[00:35:30.224]If ice and snow accumulate on cylinders,
[00:35:32.493]thaw at room temperature,
[00:35:33.712]never use a torch or other heat source
[00:35:35.964]to try to thaw thaw the cylinder out.
[00:35:39.508]And do not store near gasoline.
[00:35:42.092]When I was driving
[00:35:45.401]the route truck,
[00:35:47.471]I had a certain customer
[00:35:48.652]that was a very big customer here in Lincoln,
[00:35:51.113]and they had very poor snow removal,
[00:35:53.627]and it was really an irritating customer for me
[00:35:56.984]because they would use the cylinders inside the plant,
[00:35:59.935]so the plants are at room temperature.
[00:36:02.796]Well, they would just bring 'em out,
[00:36:04.408]and they'd just stick 'em in the snow.
[00:36:06.489]And all that snow would melt around the bottom
[00:36:08.861]and underneath the base of that cylinder
[00:36:11.120]and then refreeze as the cylinder came down
[00:36:13.176]to below freezing temperature.
[00:36:15.395]So I'd get there and here's all these cylinders
[00:36:17.460]jobbled around, and I can't do anything with 'em
[00:36:20.756]until I tip 'em over, and I had to get
[00:36:22.139]a chipping hammer out of the side box,
[00:36:23.794]and I'd have to chip all that ice off of 'em
[00:36:25.604]before I could get 'em to move or stand up straight.
[00:36:28.168]That's irritating.
[00:36:30.432]Of course, I'd tell the sales rep at the time
[00:36:32.463]for that customer, and he'd say,
[00:36:33.614]"Well, just chip it off."
[00:36:36.057]"Well, can't they scoop their snow?"
[00:36:37.353]"Well, don't you have a shovel?"
[00:36:38.378]I go, "I don't get paid by them to scoop their snow!"
[00:36:41.736](chuckles)
[00:36:46.746]Again, more cylinder storage.
[00:36:48.559]Fuel gas, always in the upright position.
[00:36:51.461]20 feet from oxygen and combustible material,
[00:36:54.146]unless you have the fire wall.
[00:36:55.221]Never place anything on top of the cylinder.
[00:36:59.236]Oxygen, again, 20 feet from flammables.
[00:37:02.188]Separation can be a one-hour fire wall.
[00:37:04.691]Cylinders in use or connected can be stored together.
[00:37:08.680]That's an interesting point there,
[00:37:10.228]because there was a big push
[00:37:14.071]about three years ago, that everybody got told
[00:37:16.661]they had to have an acetylene cart with a fire wall.
[00:37:21.460]So, I can't remember where that came from, but...
[00:37:25.098]Just an example, a typical cylinder cart's about $185.
[00:37:29.187]A cylinder cart for oxyacetylene
[00:37:31.745]that has that fire wall in it is about $1,000.
[00:37:34.642]So I think whoever is sellin' the carts with the fire wall
[00:37:37.709]was tryin' to sell more carts.
[00:37:45.831]Cylinder handling, proper protection, of course.
[00:37:48.234]Safety glasses, gloves, and steel-toed shoes.
[00:37:50.642]I know that doesn't happen a lot in the labs,
[00:37:52.430]but for us, in transport and handling, it does.
[00:38:05.104]Cylinder handling.
[00:38:05.937]Protect valves and couplings,
[00:38:07.561]regulators, hose, and apparatus from oil and grease.
[00:38:10.787]Never drop or strike a cylinder.
[00:38:12.870]Do not lift cylinder by cap,
[00:38:15.175]and do not weld on lift attachments.
[00:38:16.933]And you can see the cylinder on the right,
[00:38:19.095]somebody's welded a makeshift handle
[00:38:21.927]on the top of that cylinder valve, I would assume,
[00:38:25.130]so that they can lift it with a crane
[00:38:26.725]or some other lifting device and put it somewhere high.
[00:38:30.392]Not a good idea.
[00:38:31.940]You don't want that comin' off
[00:38:33.037]and have that cylinder drop 20, 30 feet,
[00:38:35.258]or anything like that.
[00:38:38.239]Again, cylinder handling.
[00:38:40.211]If the cylinder does not have a fixed valve handle,
[00:38:43.059]a non-adjustable wrench must be with
[00:38:44.701]the cylinder while in use.
[00:38:46.047]Valve must not be closed before moving a cylinder.
[00:38:49.459]Or, must be closed, I'm sorry.
[00:38:51.242]Unless secured to a cart,
[00:38:52.306]regulator must be removed and cap in place.
[00:38:54.945]That's an example of one of the cylinder carts we use.
[00:38:58.231]Again, that one's actually got three different chains,
[00:39:00.514]and the only reason it has three chains
[00:39:01.911]is so you can use it with different size cylinders.
[00:39:08.240]More cylinder handling.
[00:39:09.229]Check container for bulges, dents, or pits.
[00:39:12.613]Check container and valve for corrosion.
[00:39:15.171]Do not direct a gas stream directly at any person
[00:39:17.756]that's very high-pressure gas.
[00:39:19.743]Can cause a lot of,
[00:39:20.576]can cause eye damage, more than anything.
[00:39:22.234]Cylinders must be kept away from actual hot work area
[00:39:25.014]to protect from sparks, slag, et cetera.
[00:39:27.919]Cylinders need the check valve to prevent backflow.
[00:39:30.945]In this lower-right-hand picture,
[00:39:33.163]if you can see on the cylinder in the left in that picture,
[00:39:36.779]that's what's called an arc burn.
[00:39:39.024]And what that is, is somebody was using
[00:39:41.376]that cylinder in a welding application,
[00:39:43.471]and somehow, they got the energized welding wire
[00:39:46.716]or welding electrode against that cylinder,
[00:39:48.649]and it ground it out, and that caused an arc burn.
[00:39:51.923]Most of the time, with arc-burned cylinders,
[00:39:54.042]that cylinder is now no good.
[00:39:56.174]They can be reconditioned, in certain circumstances,
[00:39:58.693]but most of the time, Matheson just junks the cylinder.
[00:40:01.303]So if a customer brings in a cylinder
[00:40:03.539]with an arc burn like that, it's,
[00:40:06.532]"I'm happy to help you, Mr. Customer,
[00:40:08.595]"but it's gonna be $385 more than you expected,
[00:40:11.446]"'cause you're gonna have to buy a new cylinder," so.
[00:40:13.704]"Well, that was like that when I got it."
[00:40:16.364]I don't (chuckles) think it was like that.
[00:40:17.845]We have a very thorough inspection process
[00:40:20.109]before we can fill cylinders.
[00:40:26.956]I can name this customer, because they're not here anymore.
[00:40:29.771]Lincoln Steel on West O was one of my customers,
[00:40:31.899]and I constantly was picking up arc-burned cylinders,
[00:40:35.188]and the guy runnin' the shop part of it, he says,
[00:40:39.177]"Well, it was like that when I got it."
[00:40:41.233]No, it was not.
[00:40:45.258]Cylinders and regulators.
[00:40:46.393]Never attempt to repair or modify a regulator.
[00:40:49.592]Before attaching to the cylinder,
[00:40:50.965]stand to one side of the cylinder outlet
[00:40:52.504]and open the valve slightly
[00:40:53.809]to let the gas blow out any dust or debris
[00:40:57.219]that might have accumulated in the valve threads.
[00:40:59.531]Most of our specialty gases that we sell
[00:41:01.262]to the University of Nebraska come with a seal,
[00:41:04.282]so that's not necessary to do that step,
[00:41:06.424]because it's got a vacuum,
[00:41:08.009]or a heat-shrinked seal on the cylinder valve.
[00:41:12.037]Never use Teflon tape on a CGA fitting.
[00:41:14.158]And what CGA, by CGA fitting, I mean,
[00:41:16.739]the fitting that goes into the cylinder.
[00:41:19.292]Those fittings, on almost all gases,
[00:41:22.302]are a brass-on-brass seal.
[00:41:24.731]You don't wanna use Teflon tape on it,
[00:41:26.337]or you can actually cause a leak
[00:41:27.931]rather than prevent a leak.
[00:41:30.469]Certain gases like CO2 use a little nylon seal
[00:41:33.762]between the regulator and the cylinder.
[00:41:37.154]Ammonia uses a different kind of seal.
[00:41:41.235]Before removing from cylinder,
[00:41:43.312]close the cylinder valve, of course,
[00:41:44.734]and release gas from the regulator.
[00:41:49.998]Cylinders and valve leaks.
[00:41:51.969]Never use a leaking cylinder.
[00:41:54.230]Attempt to stop leak by closing valve.
[00:41:56.232]Move outdoors and away from ignition sources,
[00:41:58.873]allow to slowly empty.
[00:42:00.646]Tag or mark cylinder to warn others that it is leaking.
[00:42:06.046]Maybe I share too many personal stories, but,
[00:42:08.606]one of my customers, when I was driving the truck, was
[00:42:12.960]a state office,
[00:42:16.187]and they used hydrogen
[00:42:17.907]for one of their GCs, gas chromatographs.
[00:42:20.634]Well, they had a cylinder that they needed to hook up
[00:42:22.969]to the gas chromatograph,
[00:42:24.494]because the one they were using was empty.
[00:42:26.464]And it was hydrogen, and the cap was on too tight.
[00:42:29.933]So they thought, well, we've got a big screwdriver,
[00:42:33.529]we'll just stick that screwdriver
[00:42:35.033]through that hole in the cap,
[00:42:36.914]and that'll give us the leverage to get that cap off.
[00:42:40.322]Well, they got the cap loose, but in the process,
[00:42:43.659]they actually opened that hydrogen cylinder valve
[00:42:47.056]in the lab, and now it's like, everybody's runnin' outside,
[00:42:51.047]and they're calling the fire,
[00:42:52.350]they called me, or called our company.
[00:42:54.255]I had to go, and the fire department's there,
[00:42:57.337]and every door and window's open,
[00:42:58.704]they got huge fans blowin' air,
[00:43:00.331]and it's like, why didn't you just call me?
[00:43:03.216]And that's why I tell people, if there's ever an issue
[00:43:05.312]with a cylinder or something, just call.
[00:43:07.558]I'll come and look at it.
[00:43:08.704]And usually I'll do it within an hour.
[00:43:10.482]Where are you at, what building you're in,
[00:43:11.823]what lab are you in.
[00:43:12.803]I'll come and look at it.
[00:43:14.486]It's just certain things you just...
[00:43:16.616]It's like anything in life.
[00:43:17.516]There's just certain things people do,
[00:43:19.583]and you just go, you think that through?
[00:43:23.581]I mean, did you think that through to the end result
[00:43:25.469]of what could possibly happen?
[00:43:29.187]But I do that too, sometimes.
[00:43:35.454]Cylinders and fire.
[00:43:36.771]Move cylinders away from fire if possible
[00:43:38.999]and safe to do so.
[00:43:40.686]Use water to keep cylinders cool.
[00:43:43.160]Inform emergency personnel
[00:43:44.626]of type and amount of gas on-site.
[00:43:48.006]Most, you've all seen the diamond
[00:43:50.811]with the different colors and numbers.
[00:43:52.216]That's, basically that tells the fire department
[00:43:54.517]what's inside this room, in case there's an emergency.
[00:43:59.875]Additional information sources, product label,
[00:44:02.860]the safety data sheet, our website,
[00:44:05.418]there's an emergency response guidebook
[00:44:07.427]that covers just about anything that you could think of.
[00:44:10.929]Also, there's a new system in place
[00:44:12.565]called the Globally Harmonized System,
[00:44:15.548]and that is a system of pictograms and descriptive words,
[00:44:20.241]danger,
[00:44:22.896]hazardous.
[00:44:24.204]If you need to know more about that GHS system,
[00:44:27.768]you can go online and look at it.
[00:44:29.234]It's really pretty informative,
[00:44:30.491]but it's actually a global system so that everybody's using
[00:44:33.069]the same pictograms and descriptive words
[00:44:35.924]to describe the hazardous material.
[00:44:42.549]And that's the end of the show.
[00:44:46.555]I hope everybody learned something, and
[00:44:50.481]enjoyed my stories.
[00:44:52.125](chuckles)
[00:44:53.275]And like I said, the most important thing for us
[00:44:56.029]is people's safety.
[00:44:58.149]That's our biggest concern as a company,
[00:45:00.530]not only for our employees, but also for our end users.
[00:45:04.950]Nobody wants anybody to get hurt.
[00:45:07.008]Nobody wants, I mean,
[00:45:08.421]our philosophy and our mantra is,
[00:45:12.085]at Matheson,
[00:45:13.480]we want everybody to go home
[00:45:14.837]in the same condition they came to work in.
[00:45:16.694]And we don't ever want anybody to get hurt.
[00:45:18.904]So, if anybody has any doubt about anything
[00:45:22.426]concerning our gas cylinders,
[00:45:24.205]please, just call us, and ask for Tim,
[00:45:27.381]and I'll be more than happy to come
[00:45:28.979]and take a look at it for you.

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Tags:
compressed gas
safety
physical hazards
chemical hazards
gas cylinders
Tim Zoz
Greg Reeder
Matheson

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Compressed Gas Safety

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