Virtually, gases and vapours are always dangerous! If gases do not exist in their familiar and respirable atmospheric composition, safe breathing might already be affected. Moreover: Any gas is potentially dangerous, being liquefied, compressed or in normal state-essential is only their concentration. Basically there are three categories of risk Ex- Risk of explosion by flammable gasesOx- OxygenRisk of asphyxiation by oxygen displacementRisk of increase of flammability by oxygen enrichmentTox- Risk of poisoning by toxic gasesWithout auxiliary tools humans are not able to recognize these dangers early enough to initiate appropriate counter measures. With only some exceptions our nose has turned out to be an extremely unreliable warning instrument For. Example, hydrogen sulfide in low concentrations is sensible by its typical odor of rotten eggs, but lethal high concentrations of .hydrogen sulfide are not detectable by our nose. Escaping in to areas assumed to be non-dangerous because of the missing smell has already caused a lot of fatal accidents. Even harmless gases such as argon, helium or nitrogen may become dangerous when the vitally important oxygen is displaced by a sudden release. Danger of suffocation! Oxygen concentrations of less than 6 Vol% are known to be lethal. Oxygen in excess (more than 21 Vol%) increase the danger of flammability and might even cause auto-ignition of flammable material. Not only can flammable gases and vapours cause considerable plant damages by ignition, also human life is compromised
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S V Prem Prakash (Globe Engineering Associates)
No. 30, Madhavaram, Chennai, Tamil Nadu - 600060, India
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