An emergency eyewash and safety shower station are essential equipment for every laboratory that uses chemicals and hazardous substances needs. Emergency eyewash and safety shower stations serve the purpose of reducing workplace injury and keeping workers away from various dangers. Also, to avoid the chemicals that can cause further harm to the body.
Video Emergency eyewash and safety shower station
Types
There are several types of emergency eyewash station and safety shower station systems, including safety showers, eyewash stations, drench hoses, combination units, and eyewash bottles.
Safety Shower
A safety shower is a unit designed to wash an individual's head and body which has come into contact with hazardous chemicals. Large volumes of water are used and a user may need to take off any clothing that has been contaminated with hazardous chemicals. Safety showers cannot be used for flushing our eyes, due to the high pressure of water from the shower, which can damage a user's eyes.
Eyewash Station
An eyewash station is a unit for washing chemicals or substances that might splash into an individual's eyes before he or she can seek further medical attention. The user needs to wash their eyes for at least 5 minutes.
Drench Hose
A drench hose is an equipment that can spray water to a specific spot of the chemical exposure on individual's body. The benefit of a drench hose is that it can be applied to an individual who cannot reach a normal eyewash or shower station or in the case where the eyewash and shower station are unavailable.
Combination Unit
A combination unit is where other units such as a shower station, eyewash station, and drench hose share the same water supply plumbing. This unit is useful in laboratory where hazardous chemicals with different properties are used.
Eyewash Bottle
Also known as a personal eyewash unit, it is a supplementary for eyewash stations. However, eyewash stations cannot be replaced by eyewash bottles since they do not meet safety standards. Eyewash bottles allow an individual to flush the injured area immediately, or until the individual can reach the fixed eyewash station. Early eyewashes were designed with a single rinsing stream, but recent advancements have made eyewashes capable of flushing both eyes simultaneously. A pH neutral solution for emergency eyewash may also be chosen to reduce the danger from contaminants if strong acids or alkali chemicals are presented.
Maps Emergency eyewash and safety shower station
Specification and requirement
In the United States, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations on emergency eyewash and shower station are contained in 29 C.F.R. 1910.151, which provides that "Where the eyes or body of any person may be exposed to injurious corrosive materials, suitable facilities for quick drenching or flushing of the eyes and body shall be provided within the work area for immediate emergency use." However, OSHA regulation is unclear defining what facility is required. From this reason, American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has developed a standard (ANSI Z358) for emergency eyewash and shower stations, including the design of such stations.
Safety Shower
- Safety shower station should located in the place that victim are easy to reach.
- Water supply should be enough to provide at least 20 gallons per minute of water for 15 minutes (Section 4.1.2, 4.5.5)
- Hand free valve should be able to open within one second and remains open until it is manually close (Section 4.2, 4.1.5)
- Water column should have height between 82" (208.3 cm) and 96" (243.8 cm)above the floor (Section 5.1.3, 4.5.4)
- Center of the water column should have at least 16" (40.6 cm) away from any obstruction (Section 4.1.4, 4.5.4)
- Actuator should be easily accessible and easily located. It should be no more than 69" (173.3 cm) above floor (Section 4.2)
- At 60" (152.4 cm) above the floor, the water pattern should have at least 20" (50.8 cm) in diameter (Section 4.1.4)
- If shower enclosure is provided. It should has a minimum of 34" in diameter (86.4 cm) (Section 4.3)
- Water temperature of safety shower station should be temperate
- Safety shower station should have visible sign showing the location of the units.
- The safety shower station sign should place near the safety shower station.
Eyewash Station
- Emergency eye wash station should located in the place that victim are easy to reach.
- Eyewash station should provide equal amount and velocity of water on both side of it.
- Water flow should be controlled and have low velocity to rinses both eyes and is not cause any injurious to user (Section 5.1.1)
- Flow of water need to be sufficiently high to allow user to hold eyes open while rinsing (Section 5.1.7)
- Spray heads need to be protected from any airborne contaminants by cover and need to be removed by water flow easily (Section 5.1.3)
- Flow need to deliver at least 0.4 gallons (1.5 liters) of water per minute for at least 15 minutes (Section 5.1.6, 5.4.5)
- Flow pattern need to have positioned between 33" (83.8 cm) and 53" (134.6 cm) from the floor and at least 6" (15.3 cm) away from the wall or nearest obstruction (Section 5.4.4)
- Hands-free stay-open valve need to be open within one second (Section 5.1.4, 5.2)
- Valve actuator need to be easily seen and accessible by user (Section 5.2)
- Eyewash unit need to be able to wash both eyes simultaneously and water flow covers area on more than 8" above spray head (Section 5.1.8)
- Water temperature of eyewash should be temperate
- Eyewash should have visible sign showing the location of the units.
- The emergency eye wash station sign should place near the emergency eye wash station
Location
safety shower and eyewash station should be within 10 second walking distance from the place of hazard occurred and must located on the same floor of the hazard so the victim does not have to go up or down the stair when accident occur. Moreover, the path way should be clear and no obstacle.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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