Open HSI menu
Subscribe Login

Home / Articles and Press Releases / Article / Gas Detection

CATEGORIES

  • Latest Issue
  • Above The Neck Protection
  • Chemical Protection
  • Confined Space
  • Construction
  • Emergency Procedures
  • Energy, Oil and Mining Industries
  • Eye Protection
  • Fall Protection
  • Gas Detection
  • Hand Protection
  • Hazardous and Explosive Atmospheres
  • Health and Safety Awareness
  • Hearing Protection
  • Heat and Flame
  • Lighting and ATEX
  • Noise Monitoring
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Respiratory Protection
  • Safety Footwear
  • Safety Technology
  • Safety Training
  • Slips, Trips and Falls
  • Wellbeing at Work
  • Working at Height
  • Working Rights

MORE

  • Press Releases
  • Events
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Magazines

COMPANY

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Newsletter
  • Contact
Open HSI menu
Subscribe

Home / Articles and Press Releases / Article / Gas Detection

CATEGORIES

  • Latest Issue
  • Above The Neck Protection
  • Chemical Protection
  • Confined Space
  • Construction
  • Emergency Procedures
  • Energy, Oil and Mining Industries
  • Eye Protection
  • Fall Protection
  • Gas Detection
  • Hand Protection
  • Hazardous and Explosive Atmospheres
  • Health and Safety Awareness
  • Hearing Protection
  • Heat and Flame
  • Lighting and ATEX
  • Noise Monitoring
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Respiratory Protection
  • Safety Footwear
  • Safety Technology
  • Safety Training
  • Slips, Trips and Falls
  • Wellbeing at Work
  • Working at Height
  • Working Rights

MORE

  • Press Releases
  • Events
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Magazines

COMPANY

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Newsletter
  • Contact

CATEGORIES

  • Article
  • Press Release
  • Above The Neck Protection
  • Chemical Protection
  • Confined Space
  • Construction
  • Emergency Procedures
  • Energy, Oil and Mining Industries
  • Eye Protection
  • Fall Protection
  • Gas Detection
  • Hand Protection
  • Hazardous and Explosive Atmospheres
  • Health and Safety Awareness
  • Hearing Protection
  • Heat and Flame
  • Lighting and ATEX
  • Noise Monitoring
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Respiratory Protection
  • Safety Footwear
  • Safety Technology
  • Safety Training
  • Slips, Trips and Falls
  • Wellbeing at Work
  • White Papers
  • Working at Height
  • Working Rights

Article

Gas Detection

By Dave Wagner

| Read Bio

Published: October 01st, 2011

Share this article

It’s rough on the front lines. If they listened to what these devices have to say, safety pros would learn a lot.

Monday, 7.32am

Here comes Pete. It looks like he’ll be carrying me today. I’m the portable four-gas detector that Pete will use to monitor the air. I’ll make sure he doesn’t walk into a situation that puts him in danger of being caught in an explosion, or being overcome by poisonous gases.

It’s a pretty important job. I’m in the business of saving lives, and I take it very seriously. If only everyone would treat me like what I do is that critical.

OUCH! Easy, big guy. You don’t have to toss me down on the bench like that. It’s not my fault that my battery is not charged. The guy that carried me last Friday was in such a hurry to go home. He just brought me back to the tool room and left me lying here without connecting me to my battery charger.

My new lithium-ion batteries are not like the old battery technologies that used to run my parents and grandparents. My battery charger is better, too. I can be left on charge continuously without being damaged at all.

So I don’t understand why they won’t put me on my charger and just let me go to sleep there.

Oh, well, it looks like an easy day for me today while I get recharged.

I hope Pete grabs another detector and doesn’t try to work without one.

Tuesday, 11.14 am

It’s been another easy day so far. I’ve been up and ready to go since 6.30 this morning. That’s when my daily bump test started.

A bump test is essential to the start of a safe day – every day. When someone remembers to put me on my docking station at night before leaving, it automatically wakes me up and bump tests me first thing the next morning. That means that I am ready to roll when the day’s work gets started.

I really wish they would remember to do it every day. The engineers that designed me have studied more than 30,000 gas monitors very similar to me.

They have found that for every day that I am not bump tested, there is a one in 250 chance I will fail and not be able to respond to gas.

I’m actually feeling very confident today. I had my sensors changed last week.

Rusty, one of the guys who doesn’t treat me very well, dropped me from a ladder while he was climbing the side of a tank. I like to call him Rusty Roughneck. Something bad always happens when I work with him.

I bounced off three rungs of the ladder and fell face down in the mud. My sensor membranes were clogged and my hydrogen sulfide sensor was broken.

They knew about it only because I couldn’t sniff the gas when they bump tested me the next morning. That’s the first test I’ve failed in months. But how was anyone going to know I was broken if they didn’t check? As usual, Rusty didn’t tell anyone what he did to me.

Wednesday, 8.15 am

Today, we are doing confined space entries, and I will be working with Sam. He usually takes pretty good care of me. He knows to verify that I am bump tested before he takes me out. After he turns me on, he always makes sure I am zeroed and clears my peaks.

They’re going to clean the inside of a big tank today, and I’m going to sniff it out for Sam before anyone goes inside. This is a really big tank, and I will have to check it all the way down, almost 50 feet, to make sure it is safe. That’s because some of the gases might be heavier than air and sink to the bottom of the tank.

Oh, no! Sam is getting out the rope. That means he forgot to bring my sampling pump. Now, he’s going to lower me down into the tank and let me swing back and forth. I’ll probably spin around ’til I get dizzy. I hate when this happens.

He’d better be careful. I hope he doesn’t let me slip down too far. I don’t want to slosh around in all that liquid at the bottom of the tank.

Whew! I’m glad that’s over. It worked out OK. The tank is all clear. It might not end up so well for the next sniffer, though. I’m done here for today, and we’re off to check one more space before we call it a day.

Thursday, 9 am

Today is the last day of the month, which means it’s calibration day. Calibration day is the day we’re all brought into the lab and the technician puts us on the docking station for our monthly tune-up.

We get cleaned up, and the automatic calibration adjustment ensures we are performing and reading accurately.

At least once a month, it is important that we get a little deeper check-up than just our daily bump test. I was just calibrated last week when my sensors were replaced. But it’s a good idea to do it again just to make sure I stay on a regular schedule.

It is also a good day to be calibrated because, after lunch, Clarence, the company industrial hygienist, is going to let me hang out in the plant in an area where some workers have been complaining about feeling sick in the afternoon.

He’ll come get me at the end of the day and then check the readings that I have stored in my memory to see if he can find out what, if anything, is making them sick.

I can store a lot of data in my memory and tell a lot of stories if anyone wants to take the time to listen to what I have to say.

Last month, there was a day that I was carried into alarm four times. We were really lucky that day. One time, someone even turned me off when my alarm was sounding just because they didn’t want to listen to me scream any more.

Anyone could see that these things happen if they took the time to look into my memory. But they almost never do unless there is an accident. They might even be able to fix the problem that is causing me to alarm before someone gets hurt.

Friday, 7.48 am

I am bump tested this morning and ready to go to work because I am spending the day with Pete again.

He is taking me into the plant to do hot work. Oh, don’t worry; it’s not as bad as it sounds. But it can be dangerous.

Pete will count on me to determine there is no combustible gas in areas where other workers are going to be cutting or welding. Once I say the air is clear, Pete will sign a hot-work permit, and the others will be able to light their torches or strike a welding arc.

Uh-oh, it looks like we are getting a little late for this job here. An overzealous contractor employee is already cutting that pipe. Yikes! There goes my alarm.

We’re starting to get close, and my combustible gas sensor reading is at 40… 50… 60 percent LEL and still climbing.

Someone needs to shut that torch off and get everyone out of here quick!

It’s four hours later now. All, including me, have had a chance to catch their breath and regain their composure amid the confusion. Pete is going to take me back inside just one last time to make sure the air is clear before the fire trucks go home and everyone goes back inside.

If I hadn’t been here today, it could have been a real catastrophe.

That’s it. Everyone is safe now. Pete is going to take me back to the tool room and put me back on my docking station before he goes home for the night. I’ll be able go to sleep and rest easy this weekend, knowing that I did my job. I saved a life today.

Author Details:

David D Wagner is the Director of Product Knowledge for Industrial Scientific Corporation and has gained extensive experience in the development and application of gas monitoring equipment with the company since 1986.

He holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Penn State University and an MS in Management and Technology.

For more information log on to: www.indsci.com www.osedirectory.com/health-and-safety.php

Published: 10th Jan 2011 in Health and Safety International

Share this article

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dave Wagner

Connect with Dave Wagner

Visit Website

POPULAR POSTS BY Dave Wagner

- hsi -

Article

Gas Detection

Article

Gas Detection: Bump Testing – There Simply is No Other Option to Ensure Your Safety

Get email updates

Sign up for the HSI newsletter

Keep up-to-date through the power of email with Europe's largest audited safety magazine - delivering the latest news and products to satisfy all your occupational safety needs.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

FEATURED ARTICLES

Article

 Thameslink Traffic Management Programme

Press Release

‘Working At Height’ Remains Biggest Danger

Press Release

“Uncertainty and Ignorance” Risks More Asbestos Deaths

Advertisement

SOCIAL MEDIA

HSI on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/HSIMagazine/

Advertisement

SOCIAL MEDIA

HSI on Twitter

Advertisement

SUBSCRIBE

Stay up to date with our newsletter

    • Keep up-to-date with Europe’s largest audited safety magazine

 

    • Delivering the latest news and products to satisfy all your occupational safety needs

 

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Subscribe

SUBSCRIBE TO HSI MAGAZINE

5 reasons to subscribe to our digital and print package

  • Stay up to date from anywhere in the world, with instant access to the latest issue straight from your phone, tablet or laptop.
  • Trust that you’re getting the best content from our range of internationally accredited authors.
  • Get full access to our archives and see how occupational safety has evolved with us over the years.
  • Enjoy our monthly newsletter curated with up-to-the-minute news and a selection of editor’s top picks.
  • Hot off the press and straight to your door – look forward to your own glossy copy of HSI, delivered five times a year
Subscribe View Subscription levels

STAY SAFE & INFORMED

Subscribe to the best health & safety articles, news, products and regulations

Find out more

Stay up to date with our newsletter

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

ABOUT

  • About HSI International
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us

YOUR ACCOUNT

Sign In Register Account Subscribe to HSI

RESOURCES

Request Media Pack

CONNECT

ACCREDITATIONS

Copyright Bay Publishing 2023. All Rights reserved.

Designed & Built by:
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT