Request for Assistance in Preventing Hazards in the Use of Water Spray (Fog) Streams to Prevent or Control Ignition of Flammable Atmospheres

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Water in the form of a spray or fog pattern has been used by fire departments and other first response teams in efforts to prevent or control fires when dealing with flammable materials. In a review of several cases, the use of water sprays or fog actually increased the risk of danger to fire fighters and others. Water sprays have been used in the past to ventilate or otherwise reduce the concentration of the fuel to a level below that which is flammable, to raise the required ignition beyond that available, to render the flammable atmosphere inert, or to quench or prevent propagation of an incipient or developed flame front. In some experimental cases, however, the flame traveled through the water spray resulting in a more severe fire or explosion than would otherwise have occurred. Additional tests demonstrated that handlines using standard fire department water spray nozzles could not prevent ignition and that they could not produce water with small enough droplet size and uniformly high concentrations to render inert a flammable atmosphere. Fire departments and other responders are cautioned that the use of a water spray or fog does not eliminate the need for other recognized control methods to dilute the flammable atmosphere and prevent ignition due to sparks, arcs, or open flames. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Emergencies Firefighters Fires Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Emergency-equipment Fire-extinguishing-systems Fire-fighting Fire-fighting-equipment Fire-prevention Fire-safety Safety-research
• Series:
  NIOSH Numbered Publications
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHPUB85112
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00184333
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB86-121423
• Citation:
  Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 85-112, 1985 Jul; :1-6
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1985
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:de9176fcc60ce8abc115f848363aa9b3176bd93d6ffd97c286abd996f1739ed3c7e0c684991cddb2623256c4d84f6197868c2420ce940dfac91571bb567a5818
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/209549/cdc_209549_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 799.88 KB ]