Other issues
Selecting appropriate fire fighting media
Spill clean up equipment
Foodstuff and personal products
Care with non-dangerous goods
Situations involving small quantities
Selecting appropriate fire fighting media
It is important to consider appropriate fire suppression needs are met for each dangerous goods you have in place. Incompatible fire fighting agents will make an emergency situation worse. The MSDS for each material needs to be consulted for the appropriate type of fire fighting media that is required. The HAZCHEM Code is also of use because the first digit is a number that provides emergency responders with information about the most appropriate fire fighting medium to use.
In the case of mixed dangerous goods stores, a resultant HAZCHEM Code can be calculated to determine the most appropriate fire fighting technique for the mixture of dangerous goods.
The method for calculating the resultant code is described in Appendix 4 of the Australian Dangerous Goods Code (Australian Code for the transport of dangerous goods by road and rail) (non-Queensland Government link) . The HAZCHEM Code and resultant HAZCHEM Code for a mixture of goods can be used as a tool to ensure that compatible fire suppression media are selected for your situation.
The numerical values for the preferred fire fighting media as indicated by the HAZCHEM Code are as follows:
- water jets
- water fogs
- foam
- dry agent.
Spill clean up equipment
When selecting clean up equipment including absorbent products it is important to ensure the products will not react adversely with the goods you intend to use the products with.
Foodstuff and personal products
The contamination of foodstuff, food-packaging materials, items for direct personal contact, and medical or veterinary products must not be permitted to come into contact with dangerous goods. A 5m segregation distance between dangerous goods and these products is recommended. Dangerous goods must not be kept above the food or other products and the dangerous goods should not be opened in the same room.
Care with non-dangerous goods
Most approaches to compatibility deal only with identifying which combination of dangerous goods are incompatible. When storing dangerous goods it is important to consider that adverse reactions can arise between dangerous goods and other materials that are not dangerous goods. Some examples of incompatibility between dangerous goods and common products are provided below:
- Metals can react adversely with some class 8 dangerous goods to give off flammable hydrogen gas.
- Aqueous (water containing) solutions (e.g. detergents) react adversely with class 4.3 (e.g. calcium carbide) dangerous goods to give off flammable and or toxic gases and heat.
- Combustible products (e.g. saw dust, paper, timber products, asphalt, organic fibres can react with class 5.1 oxidising agents).
- Organic peroxides are unstable and can react violently even with small traces of zinc, copper, iron, combustible materials and other contaminants.
Situations involving small quantities
In some scenarios where consumer packages are stored and handled in smaller package sizes and aggregate quantities (e.g. retail places, laboratory work benches and cabinets), it may not be practicable to store dangerous goods apart by three or more metres. However, the risk from incompatible goods must still be managed. Incompatible goods must not be stored either vertically or horizontally on the same shelves.
Control measures may include:
- segregation using a liquid tight partition between incompatible materials
- segregation of incompatible goods in different fire rated, self bunded chemical storage cabinets
- storage on different shelves can be used so as to ensure that incompatible materials cannot come into contact
- storing glass bottles on lower shelves to minimise breakage
- ensuring liquid goods are not placed above solids and powders.
Other languages