[NHCOLL-L:4125] Fire safety comments on combustible storage in fluid collections area

[Makos, Kathryn]

Greetings: I am posting these comments from Mark Wright, a colleague
here at the Smithsonian Ofc of Safety, Health & Env Mmgt, relative to
recent NHCOLL discussions on storage of plastic boxes in alcohol storage
areas (Kathryn Makos, CIH, SI/OSHEM):

 

"At the Smithsonian Institution, we have recently opened a new storage
facility for our wet collections in Suitland, MD.  This is a
purpose-built storage area and lab space for >500,000 gallons of alcohol
storage.  As the fire authority for the Smithsonian, we don't allow
combustible storage in the wet collections storage areas.  The jars and
stainless steel tanks are stored directly on specially-designed steel
compact shelving systems.  As a matter of fact, we limit the presence of
ordinary combustibles in *all* of our collection storage spaces.  While
fire in these spaces is (fortunately) infrequent, the consequence of a
fire is quite high (e.g. potential staff injury, loss of collections).
In a flammable liquids storage space, the consequence can be even
greater if a spill were to be ignited.  If located within the flammable
liquid storage room, the cardboard boxes or plastic crates would
probably be the items first ignited.  The cardboard/plastic fire could
in-turn cause failure of specimen jars, releasing the liquid, and so on.
You can see how a fire could quickly grow large in this manner.  Our
philosophy is a combination of fire prevention (e.g. limit amount of
combustibles) and fire protection (e.g., sprinklers, fire-rated
construction, etc.) to reduce the risk to our collections." 

----------------------------------

Mark Wright

Fire Protection Engineer, P.E.

Office of Safety, Health & Environmental Management

Smithsonian Institution

 

 

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