Gas detection is a vital safety duty and must be carried out for numerous reasons. An efficient gas monitoring system, coupled with the equipment to handle dangerous levels of gases, can help prevent worker injury as well as explosions.

The gas monitor can take immediate action when pipe testing Adelaide infrastructure to ensure the gas level doesn’t continue to rise. These actions can include turning on a ventilation fan, stopping a process, turning off the gas valves or sounding audio or visual alarms to alert other employees so that they can be hastily evacuated.

On occasion, gas monitoring is utilised for process control. Certain gas monitors are typically utilised for plant and worker safety, and should not be used for process control where high levels of vapours or gases could be present at any given time.

With all this in mind, you may be interested in the varying gas monitor systems enlisted by workplace safety personnel.

These include:

• Oxygen detection for worker safety

Normal fresh air contains roughly 21% oxygen volume. However, if these levels are reduced people can succumb to dizzy spells and potentially pass out. Levels that are too low can also cause death or leave the victim suffering from brain damage.

These low oxygen levels can be caused by another gas or through consumption of the oxygen in the area by a biological or chemical process, as well as through displacement of the oxygen by another gas.

Pipe testing Adelaide infrastructure with an oxygen monitor is an important way to help prevent injury or death by alerting the warning signs of low oxygen in the air. A low oxygen alarm will be triggered if oxygen drops below 19.5% volume. When this occurs, it is important for any workers to be evacuated and for the problem to be resolved before they can return to work.

• Flammable gas detection for plant & staff safety

Flammable vapours and gases pose the serious threat of explosion, which can easily injure or kill staff as well as cause millions of dollars in property damage. The original alarm levels are set to 10% LEL – the amount of gas necessary to create an explosion. If gas sources are quickly and automatically turned off, or ventilation fans are turned on, this can prevent the gas from reaching a risky level.

• Monitoring for toxic gas

Toxic gases like CO and H2S are occasionally present in petrochemical or refinery applications, parking lots and other locations. Therefore, it is vital to monitor for these gases as well as take the right action if alarm levels are too high, as this can prevent the risk of injury or death.

In semiconductor plants – and other plants and factories – toxic gases are regularly utilised in processes or can be produced through a process, making it imperative to monitor for these gases and alert staff to any possibly dangerous occurrences.

• Duct or tool monitoring

In semiconductor plants, many flammable and toxic gases are utilised in production processes. Valve manifold boxes, gas cabinets and semiconductor fabrication tools are typically heavily ventilated with ducts pulling air away from this equipment. Gas monitoring of the exhaust ducts is designed to provide fast indication of a leak that occurred before it entered the work space where it can provide great risk of personnel health.

• Other methods

Many factories, parking lots, tunnels, storage facilities, underground vaults and more are susceptible to having dangerous vapours and gases present.