Capture hazardous vapors prevents health damage, fire and explosion hazards 

The smell of hazardous fumes in your warehouse can not only cause discomfort, but also constitutes an important warning. These fumes can lead to health damage and pose fire and explosion hazards. “As soon as you smell something when you open the storage cabinet, it is important to investigate what substance it is and what effect it may have on health and safety,” recommends Henk Niewenhuis. He is director of Asecos, a company that has enormous expertise as a market leader in safe storage solutions for hazardous materials. With innovative safety cabinets, ventilation equipment and air cleaners, Asecos helps contribute to a safe working environment.

Flammable liquids including gasoline, turpentine and alcohol, as well as acids, bases and toxins, can give off dangerous vapors. Capturing these vapors is essential once opened packaging is present in a cabinet. “When the primary packaging is not open, diffusion cannot occur,” Niewenhuis explains. “But once you smell something, that's a clear signal to figure out what substance is involved and how to protect personnel and the environment. Even low concentrations can have serious effects. Various values have been established from the arbo for this.”

Smart solutions

One factor in choosing the right extraction solution is the existing infrastructure. “If a building installation is already in place, the ventilation unit can be connected to it. If not, we look at whether the air can be extracted directly to the outside,” says Niewenhuis. “If the box is against an outside wall, you can use a short tube to discharge the air to the outside. With a natural draft there is then already sufficient extraction. If this is not the case, a ventilation unit must be placed in between. Here we look at how many cubic meters of air need to be extracted and there is a rule for that; when you are talking about highly flammable substances, at least a tenfold refreshment rate must be applied. For toxic fumes, it's even a 120-fold change rate. We supply different models of ventilation units, each with a different degree of refreshment.”

Recirculation

Sometimes, however, chopping and breaking is undesirable. For example, because of a listed building or for financial reasons. Then the recirculation filter unit can be a solution. This extracts the air from the cabinet, filters it and returns it purified to the room. Another advantage of this type of extraction is that the working environment does not lose heat or coolness to the outside air, allowing for more energy-efficient ventilation.

The recirculation filter top unit UFA.025.030 from Asecos offers many innovations that provide even more safety when ventilating fire safety storage cabinets. “It features a color display with a signaling system to indicate filter saturation, operating states or error messages. For filter saturation, we built in an extra step. A green light already starts blinking at seventy percent saturation, so that the user knows that he is still purifying sufficiently, but the filter must be replaced in the foreseeable future. And at ninety percent saturation, the light turns red and replacement is really necessary.”

Additional safety

Asecos offers additional security with the Safety Assistance System option, which can already be installed in the fire safety storage cabinet at the factory. Niewenhuis: “This flow monitor constantly monitors the air flow. As soon as the ventilation is not working optimally, it issues a warning via a red light. In other words, a visual warning for the employee about to open the cabinet. An extra layer of safety that ensures employees remain constantly alert and helps further minimize risks in the work environment.”