News & Press Releases
Hot Work Website
Hot Work is any work activity that involves the use of heat, or that may generate heat. Such activities include cutting, welding, brazing, soldering and the use of blow-lamps.
Hot Work is potentially hazardous and should be assessed and undertaken in a controlled manner.
It is essential that all operators who undertake hot work are correctly trained, not only in the hot work process(es) but also in planning, preparation and hazard awareness.
Gas Safe has developed a one day Hot Work training workshop that has been recognised within the industry as an essential tool for any individual or organisation who undertake Hot Work.
The practical based session is conducted on our client’s site(s) allowing delegates the opportunity to review their own hot work practices, inspect their gas control equipment and identify potential hazards.
This ‘real life’ approach to gas safety has proved extremely beneficial to those organisations who have already undertaken this training package.
In order that Hot Work receives the correct safety focus we have developed a bespoke website that allows prospective customers to easily find our training package on the web and contact us to discuss their specific training needs. You can find us at www.hotworktraining.com
Cost effective Site Safety Walks
Cost Effective Site Safety Walks
With constant operational demands and cost constraints it’s very easy to overlook some key safety issues.
It’s often assumed that operators of gas systems and processes are aware of their legal obligations and are using gas cylinders and cryogenic liquids in line with industry Codes of Practice and Guidance Notes.
It’s not until something goes wrong or someone has a ‘near miss’ that questions are raised and solutions are sought to areas of non-compliance.
In an effort to assist gas users Gas Safe are offering a cost effective site safety walk package for a limited period of time.
We are able to visit your site and undertake a site safety walk with your operational and safety personnel to identify areas of non-compliance and provide guidance as to how the organisation can work safely with compressed gas cylinders and/or cryogenic liquids.
Your staff will be able to ask our highly trained, professional, industry experts about key gas safety issues on your site and seek advice about areas of concern.
After the site visit we will provide an overview report that identifies areas of non-compliance and provides practical safety advice.
For a three month period commencing on 1st March 2013 Gas Safe will be offering this service at a cost only basis. Our fees will simply be travel and any overnight accommodation expenses and a £50 fee for the post visit report.
If you’d like to take advantage of this offer Book Here your site safety walk and ensure that you receive professional guidance on the safe handling, storage and use of compressed and liquefied gases.
Refresher Plus Training
The provision of regular refresher training to update staff on the latest Legislation, Codes of Practice, Guidance Notes and best working practices with compressed gases and cryogenic liquids is essential.
We have for many years helped our clients fulfil their refresher training obligations via our extensive range of refresher workshops.
We have now developed a suite of workshops that meet the continuing professional development needs of staff for regular gas safety refresher training.
Our new range of highly interactive half-day Refresher Plus Workshops have been specifically designed to meet the needs of individuals who have previously received both initial and refresher training. The workshops provide all the information staff require to bring their gas safety awareness knowledge up to date, thereby renewing their gas safety certification.
All the workshop modules are conducted within a team framework, allowing delegates the opportunity to interact and discuss both the questions posed and the 'real life' exercises and scenarios.
Click here to go direct to the Refresher Plus Training page...
Industrial Gas Refresher Plus Training
This training workshop is for delegates who have received both initial and refresher gas safety training relating to the safe use of industrial gases and associated equipment.
Laboratory Gas Refresher Plus Training
This training workshop is for delegates who have received both initial and refresher gas safety training relating to the safe use of industrial gases and associated equipment.
Cryogenic Gas / Liquids Refresher Plus Training
This training workshop is for delegates who have received both initial and refresher gas safety training relating to the safe use of cryogenic gases / liquids and associated equipment.
L7 The Dangers of Industrial Gas Abuse. Revision 3: 2012
BCGA Leaflet 07:2012
Revision 3
The Dangers of Industrial Gas Abuse
BCGA would like the general public and, particularly, the media, to be better aware of the dangers around trying to have ‘fun’ with industrial and medical gases.
There has been some irresponsible broadcasting and journalism around gases, depicting such activities as ‘harmless fun’ and even, in the case of sniffing nitrous oxide, of it being ‘cool’ to try. BCGA deplores such activities and such broadcasting.
Gas suppliers within BCGA take great care to advise customers on the safe use of their products and to ensure that users are aware of the hazards they are encountering, but what people will try never fails to amaze us.
Helium / Balloon Gas
Helium is a very light and inert, non-toxic gas, but if it displaces oxygen it can be fatal. The ‘fun’ to be found in the squeaky voice helium trick is far from funny when people, often youngsters, die trying this. It does not take many breaths of helium to fall unconscious and die in this way.
Youngsters in particular should be made aware of the danger and BCGA would advocate a warning hazard being attached to or given with every helium filled balloon and with any cylinder of helium balloon gas supplied to members of the general public who are unlikely to read the full detail contained in safety data sheets.
Click here to read BBC news report of tragic helium accident
Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6 )
This gas is also inert and non-toxic, but is much heavier than air and does the opposite of the helium trick, producing a very deep voice effect. But it is even more dangerous than the helium trick. There is a chance that helium, being so light, will naturally come up out of the lungs, assuming a victim is upright and breathing clean air. By contrast, SF6 being so heavy is much harder to expel from the lungs and, like helium, a few breaths can be instantly fatal.
Nitrous Oxide (N2O), Laughing Gas
Sniffing nitrous oxide for its narcotic effect as a ‘recreational drug’ is certainly no laughing matter. Like many other forms of substance abuse, it is addictive, risks death through asphyxiation and leads to crime to feed the habit. Think of nitrous oxide abuse in the same vein as glue sniffing. Even at first exposure, a user’s awareness and judgment will be seriously impaired, with all manner of dangers attached to being in that state, as with substance abuse.
Read MailOnline report of tragic death of teenager after taking laughing gas with friends
Be aware - breathing the gas can cause immediate asphyxiation
As an anesthetic gas, N2O is a medicinal product, and its supply to other than a qualified medical practitioner is illegal. Other non-medical uses of N2O include the boosting of power in racing engines and as a propellant in whipped cream dispensers.
Bona fide users of nitrous oxide in the industrial, food and medical sectors alike should be extra vigilant in monitoring stocks of nitrous oxide and be wary of staff and others misappropriating it for their own use or for monetary gain.
Cryogenic liquids
The use of cryogenic liquids has many useful industrial applications and is frequently used for demonstration purposes in schools etc. However, all users need to understand the properties and hazards of cryogenic liquids relating to the severe cold, pressure changes and the effects of the gas in the atmosphere. Appropriate training and the use of protective equipment is essential.
Cryo-Cookery, fogging effects and the rapid cooling of food and drink
It may be interesting, to be given a cocktail containing CO2 pellets to create a fogging effect, or to have your drink rapidly cooled by contact with liquid nitrogen, but it’s not so interesting if you burn your hands or ingest these very cold substances and sustain severe burns to your mouth or stomach in the process.
BCGA is particularly concerned about the recent trend for using liquid nitrogen in cookery, e.g. to make ice-cream. Thankfully, liquid nitrogen is hard for the general public to access, but we would warn against anyone trying to use liquid nitrogen in a domestic setting.
Very serious injuries have been caused, by the rapid increase in pressure as the cold liquid converts back into a gas, for example, when people try to contain cryogenic liquids in unsuitable vessels, such as a Thermos flask, leading to the explosion of the flask.
Click here to read Caterer and Hotelkeeper report on chef's liquid nitrigen accident
Solid Carbon Dioxide (solid CO2)
The use of dry ice can cause problems of asphyxiation if used in a confined space or burns if in direct contact with the skin.
There was a stunt on a radio show wherein contestants were challenged to see how long they could bear to sit on a block of dry ice. Dry ice was used because they didn’t understand the difference between dry ice (-78 °C) and water ice (0 °C). This stupidity led to the contestants receiving third degree burns and skin grafts!
Fogging effects
BCGA is also very concerned about the recent development of systems designed to flood nightclub dance floors with dense fog effects by release of liquid nitrogen or liquid carbon dioxide. Again there is significant risk of asphyxiation and of cryogenic burns and use of such systems may well breach the Confined Space Regulations.
Inert gases in confined spaces
With the exception of oxygen and air, any gas which is deliberately breathed, or inadvertently released into a confined space (such as a pub cellar), can lead to death by asphyxiation.
Compressed or liquefied gas cylinders hold a vast amount of gas, which once released, is more than enough to displace the oxygen in even very large rooms.
Most inert gases have no odour or taste and victims will simply fall unconscious without warning. There have been numerous sad examples of colleagues entering confined spaces to try to rescue victims of such asphyxiation, only to also fall victim themselves. Publicans in particular should read BCGA leaflet L10, available free to download from our website. For those who have concerns that their cellar may be a potential death trap BCGA has published a Guidance Note GN9 which enables a simple calculation of the risk, and recommends methods of mitigating it
Using gas pressure to propel things
There have been a number of examples of the contained pressure in industrial gas cylinders being misused and depicted as such on TV in very dangerous ways – e.g. smashing, with such as a lump hammer, the valves off cylinders of compressed CO2 or nitrogen and letting the cylinders themselves be propelled through the air, or doing the same with cylinders strapped to improvised ‘vehicles’ (shopping trolleys, go-carts, etc.), has been depicted as great fun!
But people have little understanding of the hazards of releasing contained gas pressure suddenly in this way. The pressure in a car tyre can be sufficient to cause death - industrial gas cylinders contain typically a hundred times this pressure.
If the pressure release causes 80 kg plus of gas cylinder to fly about, the consequences can be dire!
In summary
Industrial gases have wide use in a number of industry sectors and are invaluable in their correct use. But untrained persons, particularly youngsters, should not mess with gas cylinders. Personal insurance will not pay in cases of recklessness such as those highlighted in this leaflet.
The media should adhere to their own codes of practice and stop depicting industrial gas cylinders in irresponsible ways.
For more information
Please click here to download this free leaflet www.bcga.co.uk
ISSN 0260-4809
RoSPA Approval for Gas Safe Workshops
One of the key considerations for any organisation wishing to undertake safety training will be….
'How do we know that the material being delivered by the training provider is technically correct?'
It is vital that training providers are able to give the market assurances that their training materials have been independently evaluated and approved; backed up by detailed lesson plans and tutor's notes; and delivered by Industry Professionals.
We are proud to announce that all training materials contained within our Industrial Gases, Laboratory Gases and Cryogenic Liquids workshops are now RoSPA Approved.
This approval provides organisations with the necessary assurances that the training they receive from Gas Safe has been independently audited and approved by the UK's major safety body.
As members of the BCGA (British Compressed Gases Association) we play an active role in the safety processes that produce Codes of Practice, Guidance Notes and Technical Information Sheets for the gases industry. We will continue to ensure that the training we deliver not only meets our customer's needs but is also technically correct, relevant and highly professional.
Our Industrial, Laboratory & Cryogenic workshop training materials are RoSPA approved
The training provided by Gas Safe not only suited our needs exactly but was handled from the initial enquiry through to the actual training superbly. The arrangements, flexibility of training dates, training workshop and follow-up process could not have been handled any better!
I would not hesitate in using Gas Safe again and recommending them as a reliable and trusted supplier.
Glynn Redshaw
Customer Support Centre Manager
Volvo Construction Equipment
