[Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Fluid specimen room safety

[Simon Moore]

I would second Dirk’s remarks about floor ridges.  Having experiences them first hand with a trolley full of quite tall jars filled with alcohol and having to negotiate a floor ridge (on my own - reduced staffing levels!) so that the jars didn’t knock against each other!  This was back in the 1980s.  It also takes a large spillage combined with raised external temperature during a hot summer, to produce anything like a realistic fire hazard due to the rather lower flash point of alcohol versus other volatiles. However, Health & Safety parameters are often slightly exaggerated for obvious reasons.

With all good wishes, Simon

Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR
Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian.

www.natural-history-conservation.com


> On 5 Jul 2024, at 07:18, Dirk Neumann <d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de> wrote:
> 
> Dear Joosep,
> 
> this depends on your local fire safety regulations; in principle, ethanol itself does not burn, but the highly flammable ethanol fumes. Depending on your HVAC system, a sufficiently high air exchange rates in your alcohol storage significantly reduces potential fire risks. Another relevant factor is reducing potential ignition sources, as ethanol usually does not self-ingnite. It needs a spark.
> 
> In case of breakage, it is required in some countries that there are grooves or barriers, e.g. at doors to prevent that in case of a larger spillage ethanol can escape from the storage room. However, these grooves or small barriers usually affect much more, e.g. when you have to wheel carts over these barriers.
> 
> Storage rooms should be equipped with small emergency kits that help to remove spillages; there are several chemical spill kits with binders etc. on the market.
> 
> To create a combustible atmosphere it usually requires a "large spillage", e.g. a major earthquake or collapse of storage shelves that knocks off hundreds of jars at once.
> 
> Hope this helps
> Dirk
> 
>   
> 
> 
> Am 04.07.2024 um 10:43 schrieb Joosep Sarapuu:
>> 
>> 
>> Dear all,
>>  How have you solved the safety of the rooms for fluid specimen? If the cans break, are there any grooves where the liquids run or how do you dispose of such things? What quantities have you considered in case something like that happens?
>>  Sincerely,
>> Joosep Sarapuu
>> Estonian Museum of Natural History
>>   
>> _______________________________________________
>> Nhcoll-l mailing list
>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information.
>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate.
>> 
> 
> -- 
> ****
>  Dirk Neumann
> Collection Manager, Hamburg
>  Postal address:
> Museum of Nature Hamburg
> Leibniz Institute for the Analysis
> of Biodiversity Change
> Dirk Neumann
> Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3
> 20146 Hamburg
> +49 40 238 317 – 628
> d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de
> www.leibniz-lib.de
>  -- 
> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversitätswandels
> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany
> 
> Stiftung des öffentlichen Rechts;
> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Grüter (Kaufm. Geschäftsführer)
> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn
> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst
>  
> -- 
> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversitätswandels
> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany
> 
> Stiftung des öffentlichen Rechts;
> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Grüter (Kaufm. Geschäftsführer)
> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn
> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst
> _______________________________________________
> Nhcoll-l mailing list
> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l
> 
> _______________________________________________
> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information.
> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate.