For people who work outside, winter weather can pose a range of risks, including to your portable gas monitor. By following some simple tips, you can worry less about your portable gas monitor’s performance and trust that you can depend on it to prevent exposure to toxic or combustible gases.
You’ve probably heard confined space horror stories a million times. The person inside a confined space becomes unresponsive. Training all workers before they work in confined spaces is a must, but in reality not every job is performed under ideal conditions.
Wastewater plants are full of confined spaces, like recirculation pits, clarifier tanks, and wet wells. These spaces alone can be hazardous, and the danger only increases when you consider the gases that can permeate the air at wastewater treatment facilities.
The year 2018 marks the 25th anniversary of the implementation of permit-required confined space entry regulations in the United States. Thousands of entries that take place across the country every day have become, shall we say, standard.
When the editors of ISHN asked me to write an article concerning changes to gas detection in this decade, the second decade of the twenty-first century, I welcomed the opportunity to look back and explore whether or not the rules that govern gas monitoring in industry really have changed over the years.
Since legislation regarding entry into confined spaces was established in 1993, safety professionals have been on a quest to find the ideal confined space gas monitor. The instrument must be easy to use, detects and identifies all potential hazards, lasts forever and requires no calibration, testing or preventive maintenance. Does such an instrument exist?