FEATURE

Testing explosives:
Considerations for an
intrinsically safe laboratory
Certain materials are intrinsically hazardous they are hazardous in and of themselves regardless of how
they are handled. Examples include explosive powders such as black powder, or explosive gases such as
propane. Industries working with these materials are highly regulated so accidents are rare.
Laboratories working with these materials may not be subject to the same level of regulation as industry is
because of the small quantities used for laboratory scale procedures and the controlled conditions in use
such as ventilation fume hoods.
However, when a laboratory routinely examines materials with explosive hazards, an elevated risk of
accidental detonation will exist. An intrinsically safe laboratory is the best environment to manipulate such
materials. Though it may be impossible for a laboratory to be safe in and of itself, careful planning and
preparation will produce a workplace that is compatible with these hazardous materials. Such planning
includes giving consideration to building design, laboratory procedures, and personnel behavior as well as
having contingencies in place should a catastrophic failure of these systems result in an explosion.

By J. Keith Butler

INTRODUCTION

Certain materials are intrinsically

hazardous they are hazardous in
and of themselves regardless of how
they are handled. Examples include
explosive powders such as black powder, or explosive gases such as propane,
butane,
and
acetylene.
Industries working with these materials are highly regulated so accidents
are rare. In fact most accidents in these

Certain materials
are intrinsically
hazardous they are
hazardous in and of
themselves regardless
of how they are
handled.
J. Keith Butler is affiliated with a
defense contractor to the US Army.
He resides in Tennessee, United States
(Tel.: 731 414 6598; fax: 731 686 6433;
e-mail: jkbchemist@gmail.com).

24

industries are normal industrial accidents such as slips, trips, falls, back
strain, cuts and abrasions, etc.
Laboratories working with these
materials may not be subject to the
same level of regulation because of
the small quantities used for laboratory scale procedures and the controlled conditions in use such as
ventilation fume hoods. Protective
measures are required only if the
hazardous materials have potential
to exist in explosive concentrations
by routine or by accident. For example
laboratories routinely use diethyl
ether without incident and without
extraordinary measures.
However, when a laboratory routinely manipulates materials with explosive hazards, an elevated risk of
accidental detonation will exist. An
intrinsically safe laboratory is the best
environment to manipulate such materials. Though it may be impossible for a
laboratory to be safe in and of itself,
careful planning and preparation will
produce a workplace that is compatible with these hazardous materials.
Such planning includes giving consideration to building design, laboratory
procedures, and personnel behavior as
well as having contingencies in place
should a catastrophic failure of these
systems result in an explosion.

Division of Chemical Health and Safety of the American Chemical Society

Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS

Every year the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol,

Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
publishes a list of materials that are
explosive and may require these protective measures.1,2 If a laboratory
works with any of these materials or
suspects a hazardous condition may
exist with non-listed materials efforts
should be taken to avoid exposing
materials to detonation sources.
Hazards to avoid include electrical
arc from static discharge, sparks arising from hand tools or material
handling equipment, electrical arcs
from infrastructure service outlets,
electrical arcs from electronic devices,
and thermal effects from heat producing equipment. Many of the protective
measures
available
are
incorporated into the National Electric Code (NEC) published by the
National Fire Protection Association
(NFPA).3
Two definitions that will prevent
confusion when reviewing these guidelines are:
 Intrinsically safe: Systems, circuits,
or equipment which are not capable
of producing any spark or thermal
effect capable of causing ignition of a
mixture of flammable or combusti-

1871-5532/$36.00
doi:10.1016/j.jchas.2009.02.006

ble materials in air. These shall

always be grounded and bonded to
any associated equipment.
 Explosion proof: An enclosure
designed with sufficient strength to
withstand an internal explosion and
to contain the burning mixture to
prevent ignition of explosive mixtures in the room.
HAZARDOUS ENVIRONMENT
CLASSES

The NEC describes hazardous environments in two ways. The North American classification includes classes,
divisions, and groups. An alternate
classification system of European
origin classifies hazardous locations
by Class and Zone. The Class/Division/Group system will be presented
in more detail here. An introduction
to the Zone classification system will
follow.
Hazardous environments are classified in three ways depending on the
source of the hazard:
 Class I flammable gases and vapors
 Class II combustible dusts
 Class III ignitable fibers or flyings
The petroleum and gas industries are
examples of operations where Class I
environments may be encountered.
These environments may have flammable gases and vapors present in the
air in ignitable concentrations. The
hazard is obvious. Any laboratory involved in research or analysis may from
time to time encounter gases such as
acetylene or hydrogen or vapors from
solvents such as ether, acetone or gasoline. Precautions should always be
taken to avoid the formation of ignitable concentrations. If this cannot be
controlled with absolute certainty, protective measures should be taken.
Within this classification are two divisions:
 Division 1 for environments where
ignitable concentrations can exist
under normal conditions; and,
 Division 2 for environments where
volatile flammable liquids/gases are
normally confined to closed systems,
but could escape under accidental or
abnormal conditions.

Both divisions have the following

groups based on the autoignition temperature of the hazardous substance.
The group designation is most useful
when applied to equipment design.
Heat producing machinery is often
rated for the following groups based
upon their thermal output.
 Group A Acetylene
 Group B Hydrogen and fuels with
>30% hydrogen
 Group C Ether, ethylene, etc.
 Group D Acetone, ammonia, benzene, butane, gasoline, natural gas,
methane, etc.
Class II environments may be
encountered in any industry that has
potential to generate combustible
dusts. News reports4 of explosions
from grain processing facilities and
sugar refining plants are unfortunate
reminders of the constant vigilance
required in these environments.
Laboratories are much less likely to
have combustible dust hazardous
environments but these must be discussed. Many catastrophic industrial
accidents caused by combustible
dusts are secondary explosions that
follow a localized initiating blast.
The initial localized blast may not
destroy a building but can shake the
rafters, and HVAC duct work, and
suspended light fixtures, and any
other structure that allows dust to
collect with little or no housekeeping
attention. Localized fires or electrical
arc from damaged electrical equipment may ignite the newly formed
dust cloud propagating a major explosion resulting in total destruction of a
facility that initially had no visible
dust problems.
This could happen in a laboratory.
Special vigilance should be given to
housekeeping when the laboratory
dust includes materials that are oxidizers or fuels. With the increasing interest
in
nanoparticles,
materials
scientists should give consideration
to these precautions for their laboratories. This is especially true when
working with high carbon containing
particles or combustible metals such as
aluminum or magnesium. Dusts can be
generated in laboratories by a number
of processes such as by grinding,

Journal of Chemical Health & Safety, November/December 2009

milling, or sieving. Any procedure

requiring a dust respirator be worn
could fall into this Classification. There
are also two divisions for combustible
dust environments:
 Division 1 for environments where
ignitable concentrations of combustible dusts can exist under normal
conditions.
 Division 2 for environments
where ignitable concentrations
of combustible dusts are not normally in the air but may occur infrequently due to malfunctioning
equipment.
Both divisions have the following
Groups based on ignition temperature
of the dust:
 Group E metal dusts (Al, Mg, etc.)
 Group F carbonaceous dust (carbon, coal, charcoal, coke, etc.)
 Group G other dusts (flour, grain,
wood, sugar, chemicals, etc.)
Class III environments are less
common than Classes I and II. Class
III environments cover easily ignitable fibers or flyings. These may be
encountered where large quantities
of cotton, bulk cellulose, textiles, or
other material capable of forming airborne suspensions of particulates too
large to be classified as a dust. The
associated hazards are similar but not
as severe as those found with Class II
hazards. Ignition is generally more
difficult. A class III laboratory environment likewise could develop under
conditions similar to those that would
generate a Class II environment.
There are two divisions but no subgroups for ignitable fiber or flying
environments:
 Division 1 for locations where
easily ignitable fibers or flyings are
produced or used.
 Division 2 for locations where
easily ignitable fibers or flyings are
stored.
HAZARDOUS ENVIRONMENT ZONES

An alternative method of classifying

hazardous environments comes from
Europe and is included in the more
25

recent versions of the NEC. This system uses multi-tiered zones.

Class I, Zone 0, Zone 1, and Zone 2
hazardous locations exist where fire or
explosion hazards may exist due to
flammable gases, vapors or liquids:
 In Zone 0 locations a risk of fire or
explosion is present during normal
operations.
 In Zone 1 locations a risk of fire or
explosion may not exist continuously, but will occur as part of normal operations.
 In Zone 2 locations hazardous materials are present but they are not
likely to be found in ignitable concentrations in the air. Many conventional laboratories are Class 1, Zone
2 locations.
Zones 20, 21 or 22 hazardous locations exist when ignitable concentrations of combustible dusts, fibers and
flyings may be present.
 Zone 20 locations will have ignitable
concentrations present continuously.
 Zone 21 locations will likely have
ignitable concentrations present
some time during normal operations.
 Zone 22 locations will have ignitable
concentrations of dust, fibers, or flyings only under unusual conditions
such as maintenance or system failure.
More detailed information about
Zone classifications can be found in
the 2008 NEC3 or in ANSI/ISA 60079185 and ANSI/ISA 61241-10.6
With the authority to classify hazardous work environments and to
develop standards for equipment and
infrastructure that is safe in these environments, comes much responsibility
and liability. This may be part of the
reason the NEC excludes environments
containing explosives and gun powders
from its Class, Division, and Group
classifications. If sugar dust can detonate with sufficient energy to destroy an
entire manufacturing facility resulting
in multiple severe injuries and even
death,4 imagine what would happen if
the dust were an explosive such as TNT
or black powder. With no other industry standard available, the explosives
Industry utilizes Class I guidelines to
26

ensure the greatest electrical safety

available.

PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES

LABORATORY CONSTRUCTION

The remainder of this article will

address specific actions to take when
working in a Class I environment. The
first item to consider is the building
itself. While avoiding an explosion is
the ultimate goal, designs to minimize
the negative impact of an explosion to
the surrounding environment should
be considered as a contingency for a
worst case scenario. The military has
published guidelines for design of
Structures to Resist the Effects of
Accidental Explosions.7 One of the
key features of the building design is
blow-out walls and ceilings.
If an explosion occurs in a laboratory,
structural damage will result. If the
explosion is large enough to cause
structural failure, collateral damage will
be felt by near-by structures as well as
bystanders in the vicinity of the laboratory. To reduce the amount of collateral
damage and bystander injury the region
of least impact should be identified and
efforts taken to direct the greatest force
of an explosion in that direction. The
first consideration is laboratory loca-

tion. If in a stand alone building and

if real estate is available, isolate it from
other occupied areas. This is done by
distance as wells as shielding in the form
of earth or manufactured barricades
that will direct the force of an explosion
upward and away from ground activities. OSHA publishes safe quantity distance limits in 29 CFR 1910.1098 based
on the quantity and type of explosive
being used. Another option is to locate
the building adjacent to an unoccupied
area that can serve as buffer zone to
absorb the directed force of an accidental explosion. If the laboratory is
incorporated into a multipurpose structure, locating it on the top floor in a
corner room would provide three directions for the force to be directed away
from other occupants and operations.
Local building codes as well as applicable OSHA and ATF regulations should
be reviewed prior to locating potentially
explosive activities in such facilities.
Once the location is selected, the
construction design should include
considerations for an accidental explosion.7 First, reinforced walls should be
constructed in accordance with proven
engineering designs to separate the
potentially explosive work area from
other activities. Secondly, portions of
the building should have weaker, breakaway features designed to fail quickly

Figure 1. A simple laboratory is constructed with 3 strong walls and 1 weak wall to
blow-out. There is a reinforced dividing wall to serve as a barrier that separates
explosion hazards from less hazardous activities. Also notice the earthen barricade
adjacent to the building to protect near-by structures.

Journal of Chemical Health & Safety, November/December 2009

and allow the greatest force of the

explosion to be directed in a designed
direction to minimize collateral
damage. In Figure 1 a simple laboratory
is constructed with three strong walls
and one weak wall. The roof may also be
constructed to blow-out. There is a
reinforced dividing wall to serve as a
barrier that separates explosion hazards
from less hazardous activities. Also
notice the earthen barricade adjacent
to the building to protect near-by structures. This design feature was used
extensively by the DuPont powder mills
near Wilmington, Delaware as early as
1804.9 This arrangement is conducive
to one of the fundamentals to safely
working with hazardous materials:
minimize the number of people
exposed to the hazard.
Defeating static discharge should
also be considered when designing or
updating a laboratory to work with static sensitive materials. Similar measures
are taken by the semiconductor industry to protect their products. Those
working with static sensitive energetic
materials also need to protect their product but more importantly to protect
people! Everything in the laboratory,
including humans, can develop a static
potential. As two objects approach each
other a static discharge may occur from
the object of high potential to the object
of low potential. This discharge has
sufficient energy to initiate a detonation
in a number of materials (natural gas,
black powder, etc.) Therefore steps
should be taken to prevent static build
up and to drain static potential from
anything, including personnel, entering
the laboratory.
All metal components of the building
must be grounded to allow electrical
potential to drain to the ground. Metal
components should also be electrically
bonded to contact material. This is commonly done when transferring solvents
from a metal drum to a metal safety can.
But it is also a construction consideration when building a facility to work
with static sensitive materials. For
example, touching a metal door knob
can result in a static discharge under the
right conditions. If both the door and
person are connected to a common
ground, this should not occur. Another
example would be two moving parts of
the same piece of equipment such as the

top and bottom half of a guillotine cutting device.

Laboratory personnel will also carry
an electrostatic potential. An anti-static
wrist strap connected to a ground wire
is the simplest method of draining static
from the body. However it is critical to
have proper contact between the
ground connecter and skin. Grounding
should be verified periodically. This
may be done by a qualified electrician
or by the use of special meters designed
for use with wrist straps.
Grounded workstations offer additional protection. They will allow a conductive pathway to ground for materials
being handled as well as the analyst.
These may be metal sheeting or other
conductive material which is properly
grounded. The grounding potential
should be periodically verified by a qualified electrician. This will also provide a
convenient location to connect antistatic wrist straps to ground.
It is possible for regions of variable
electrical potential to develop in different parts of a person and their clothing.
When working with electrostatic sensitive materials, conductive flooring
grounded to earth is needed in addition
to the wrist strap and grounded workstations. The flooring may be incorporated into the building design and
installed uniformly throughout the
laboratory. Or for protection in limited
areas it may be a conductive structure
the analyst stands on at specific workstations. These may be conductive pads,
metal grates, or metal platforms; all of
which are properly grounded.
Note that this electrically grounded
arrangement allows static potential to
drain from personnel and is more protective than electrostatic dispersive surfaces
(EDS). EDSs can prevent the accumulation of a static build up as one walks across
the floor but may not drain away a charge
that has developed in some other manner.

Conductive flooring offers no protection unless the analyst is conductively connected to the floor. Antistatic leg or heel straps or conductive
shoe covers can be worn by the analyst
that function much like wrist straps by
connecting a conductor to skin on the
leg or foot with the grounded conductive floor. Disadvantages are that the

Journal of Chemical Health & Safety, November/December 2009

shoe covers have short life times and

can be uncomfortable to walk in. The
solution to this is conductive shoes,
most of which come with steel toes.
Disadvantages include cost and they
are not one size fits all. For conductive
shoes to work, non-insulating socks
must be worn. Nylon, rayon, and other
synthetic polymers are insulators. If
socks are worn they should have significant cotton or wool content. Policies should also be in place to forbid
odor reducing insoles as these will
insulate the wearer from the ground.
Foot powders should not be used
either. Electrostatic potential will
drain from the body best when the
conductivity is maximized. Having an
electrolytic solution of water and salt
(a.k.a. sweat) will ensure optimum
function and a more protected analyst.
The conductivity and grounding ability
of the flooring material should be
checked and documented on a regular
basis. As a minimum, daily verification
of the conductivity of the leg stats, shoe
covers, or conductive shoes should be
documented. Manufacturers of these
protective items will have specifications for proper function. All of the
test equipment used to verify conductivity and grounding of the wrist stats,
work benches, shoes, and flooring
should be calibrated to ensure proper
compliance to those specifications.
Additional consideration should be
given to the clothing the analyst wears.
Fabric of a lab coat brushing against
underlying garments can result in an
electrostatic potential difference that
could produce a spark. Conductive
lab coats are available. One example
is made from Worklon Micro Stat
poplin blend which is approximately
20% cotton with a semiconducting
fiber grid woven into the fabric. These
come with metal snaps that can be
connected to ground wires using the
same cables found on wrist straps.
(Conductive lab coats are available
through most distributors of laboratory
supplies.) Again, before assuming protection the conductivity should be verified with a calibrated meter.
Another type of static discharge that
should not be overlooked is lightning.
Lightning rods should be installed and
grounded so that the building is one
continuous grounded electrical con27

ductor. As devastating as a direct strike

can be, this will keep the lightning outside rather than allowing it inside where
sensitive materials would be detonated.
In addition to electrostatic discharge
or sparks, construction design features
must include measures to prevent electrical arc or current jumping between
two electrodes. This is commonly seen
in electrical switches such as light
switches, thermostats, instrument
power switches, or when plugs connect to receptacles. When possible,
intrinsically safe devices should
always be used. This is not always
possible and explosion proof enclosures must be used. Explosion proofing is often done by sealing exposed
circuits and locating power sources in
isolated locations away from the
hazardous environment. For example
a circuit breaker box could be located
in a room accessed from outside away
from the laboratory. The conduit feeding into the breaker box would require
sealing devices in line between the
hazardous environment and the box;
although explosion proof breaker
boxes are available at considerable
expense. If explosion proof circuits
and standard circuits are in the same
building, these must be separated so
that gas and dust cannot pass from one
to the other.
A detailed discussion of this type of
construction is beyond the scope of
this paper; however, some examples
are presented for consideration:
 Electrical conduit (Figure 2)
A. Explosion proof conduit also
known as rigid metal conduit
is heavy walled and threaded
with 5 threads fully engaged.
B. Standard conduit is thin walled
and clamped to service boxes.

Figure 2. These fire alarm pull stations

illustrate the difference between standard service boxes and conduit and
Class I, Division 1 conduit and service
boxes. (A) is connected by engaging 5
or more threads; (B) with a set screw.
(A) is heavy walled (3/8 in.); (B) is thin
walled (1/16 in.). (A) is held into place
by 4 heavy one inch long screws; (B)
has a snap-on cover. (A) will weigh over
2 pounds; (B) only a few ounces.

28

Journal of Chemical Health & Safety, November/December 2009

Some types of conduit are

threaded to take washer type nuts
that only engage about 2 threads.
That will not meet the demands of
an explosion proof enclosure. The
requirement for multiple threads is
to create a path of sufficient length
to cool hot gases resulting from an
explosion within the conduit. The
gases must cool to a temperature that
will not cause gases in the environment outside the enclosure to detonate.
 Service boxes
 Standard light switch service
boxes are thin walled. The face
plate which is commonly made
of plastic is held on loosely with
two small screws.
 For hazardous environments, the
light switch must be enclosed in a
service box with a cover rated for
use in the working environment.
Class 1 boxes are thick walled,
heavy, (2 pounds) with multiple
long bolts connecting the face
plate (Figure 3). The actual switch
is toggled up and down remotely
by an external lever or push button
system that is sealed. Rather than
standard knock-outs, the box
has a heavy walled opening
threaded multiple times to receive
rigid conduit.
 Light fixtures
 Two hazards with standard fixtures
are breakage and the resulting
exposed arc or heat source, and
for fluorescent bulbs, arcs that
may occur when the lamp initiates.
 Explosion proof fixtures (Figure 4)
are sealed to prevent explosive
gases and dusts from entering
hot zones. They are also reinforced to withstand an explosion
should one occur. Often a guard
fixture is in place to prevent accidental breakage.
 Explosion proof fixtures are available for any electrical service needed
including receptacles, exit lights, fire
alarm pull stations and alarms with
strobes, intercom systems, paging
systems, telephones, flashlights, etc.
These are low volume items for vendors. They have substantial construction features. Selling them for
hazardous environments carries liability for the vendor.

Figure 3. Explosion proof light switch thick walled, assembled with large screws
weighing 2 pounds.

Figure 4. Light fixtures: (A) fluorescent, notice the rigid conduit connections, the
reinforced diffuser glass, the gasket seal between the glass and bulb compartment,
the thickness of the sheet metal. (B) Incandescent, notice the heavy globe surrounded
by a protective cage, the elaborate enclosure to protect from heat as well as arc, and
the label indicating that the fixture is suitable for use in hazardous locations.

Journal of Chemical Health & Safety, November/December 2009

29

Table 1. Cost comparison of components for providing electrical service to a conventional location and to a Class I, Division 1 hazardous location.

Conduit, 3/4 in.  10 ft

Receptacle
Light switch
Fluorescent light fixture
Incandescent light fixture

Conventional
wiring10

Class I, Division
1 wiring11

$6.49
$4.67
$4.77
$22.99
$12.79

$25.65
$554.49
$160.10
$955.70
$274.45

You will pay for this.

It will be worth it.
For a comparison of standard
parts vs. explosion proof parts see
Table 1.10,11

PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES

LABORATORY FURNISHINGS

Like a chain, a safety system will only

protect as well as its weakest link. Once
you have a safe facility to work in, you
have to furnish it. Each piece of equipment placed in the laboratory should be
evaluated as a potential detonation
source either by electrical arc or by
thermal effects. All devices should be
rated intrinsically safe which will be
marked on the instrument. Or, it may be
rated for a specific hazardous environment such as Class I, Groups A, B, C, D
or Class II E, F, and G, etc. Many
devices are available with this designation. Vent hoods, electric motors,
laboratory ovens, and balances but
not analytical balances with four decimal places! It appears there is not
enough market demand for such a balance to be economically attractive to a
vendor. I am not aware of an intrinsically safe moisture balance either. In
such cases adjustments must be made.
If a mechanical balance is available
with suitable accuracy and precision,
the light source can be sealed and isolated from the hazardous environment
Figure 5. A double pan balance with
certified weight set can also be used,
but these are difficult to procure as well.
With careful consultation with the
manufacturer, many devices may be
purged with an inert gas and maintained
under
positive
pressure
(Figure 6). This works well when the
hazardous environment is a gas. Gases
are easy to purge. Explosive dusts are
more difficult. Therefore, the positive

30

pressure must be maintained at all

times; if it ever fails there is a risk of
dust entering the device that cannot be
purged out. The device will need to be
disassembled and physically cleaned
before placing back in service.
Heat sources can also be problematic. One solution is to heat with
steam that is generated external to
the hazardous environment and
plumbed to the work station.
As a result of such severe restrictions, modern instrumental techniques are often not safe when
manipulating explosive materials.
Therefore, classical wet chemistry
analysis techniques are often utilized.
These techniques would have been
quite common for the analytical chemist of the 1950s and 1960s. When
undertaking tasks with these types of
hazards, new analysts may discover
that these new techniques are really
quite old, even classic!

Some non-electrical equipment can

also be a source of electrostatic discharge. Tools used for custodial
and maintenance activities should be
chosen carefully when hazardous
environments are present. For example,
hundreds of nylon bristles rubbing
against one another as a broom brushes
across a floor may generate thousands
of electrostatic discharges. Plastic dust
pans used to clean a floor can be a risk
too. This would also apply to small
balance brushes used to clean up small
messes near a balance. A steel wrench
or screwdriver being used to open a
steel pail or drum could create a spark.
Conductive/non-spark forming tools
are available for every job. Brooms and
brushes should be natural animal or
plant fiber. These include boars hair
or horse hair push brooms and brushes,
straw brooms, conductive non-spark
dust pans, and hand tools made from
non-ferrous alloys such as copper/beryllium or aluminum/bronze alloys.

PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES

PERSONNEL

Even with proper construction and

equipment selection, systems can and
will fail. As a last line of defense shielding should be placed between the
worker and the hazard whenever pos-

Figure 5. Manual analytical balance with light source isolated in an explosion proof
system with a magnifying lens to focus the light as needed to illuminate the balance
scale. Heat vents above the original location of the bulb have been sealed to keep
explosive dusts out of the balance. Also notice the explosion proof toggle switch to
the left of the balance.

Journal of Chemical Health & Safety, November/December 2009

Table 2. Quantity distance calculations.

Journal of Chemical Health & Safety, November/December 2009

31

causes nervousness, they should find a

new job. That is important for the
worker as well as for co-workers.
Many industrial accidents can cost a
worker a finger, a hand, an eye or even
their life. But, an accident with explosive materials can cause severe injury
and death to co-workers. This requires
a greater sense of responsibility for
working safe and ensuring those
near-by are working safely.

CONCLUSIONS

Figure 6. Factory supplied purge gas option for a moisture balance to render it
suitable for use in a hazardous location. Notice that the inert gas is split to purge
both the upper portion holding the heating element as well as the lower portion
holding the balance mechanism and electronics.

sible. This could be an enclosure for

remotely operated equipment or a
small laboratory shield used when
manually processing materials. Safety
glasses face shields, and appropriate
gloves should always be used.
Engineering controls alone will not
ensure an intrinsically safe work environment. Policies and procedures that
have been verified to be protective,
that are supported by all levels of
supervision, that are enforced with
severe penalties, and are judiciously
practiced by everyone in the laboratory
are needed.
Examples include proper storage of
energetic materials. Explosion proof
reinforced barricade type storage cabinets should always be used and should
remain closed unless adding or removing materials. The amount of material
in a building should be limited to the
least amount necessary but never to
exceed a maximum amount for the
32

location as determined by appropriate

guidance documents8,12,13 (Table 2).
Each operation should have a standard
operating procedure which should
limit the amount of hazardous material
needed for that procedure. Materials of
different hazards and different sensitivities should always be segregated
whether in storage, while being used,
or as a waste.
Supervisors and operators should
always follow three fundamentals to
working with hazardous materials:
1. Minimize amount of hazardous
material
2. Minimize the number of employees
exposed
3. Minimize employee exposure time

Few laboratories are hazardous work

environments which require all of
these extraordinary measures to be in
place. However, anyone working in a
laboratory has the potential to find
themselves in a hazardous situation.
It is at these times that an awareness
of these hazards and the measures that
can be taken to prevent a fire or explosion become critical. These are most
useful when considered in advance,
during the planning stages of a procedure rather than during an actual
emergency. It is hoped that this article
has given the reader new insight to
potential hazards and preventive measures that will promote a safe, productive work environment. Extraordinary
hazards require extraordinary caution.
Intrinsically hazardous materials must
be manipulated under conditions that
are as intrinsically safe as possible.

It is hoped that this

article has given the
reader new insight to
potential hazards and
preventive measures
that will promote a
safe, productive work
environment.
REFERENCES

Attitude of the worker is important.

Workers should always respect the
materials they work with, but not to
the point of being terrified. If the work

1. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms,

and Explosives, Department of Justice:
List of Explosive Materials, 27 CFR
Subchapter C Part 555.23.

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Near the bottom of the page is the
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