Where to Place Your Industrial Safety Cabinet

When you own a facility, you're responsible for protecting your workers from accidents and injuries, so it's important to keep flammable safety cabinets on-site. These fire-resistant cabinets are designed to prevent flammable and combustible liquids from reaching a temperature that can cause spontaneous combustion. In order to place your safety cabinet in the proper location, ensure the industrial safety cabinet is stored away from panel boards and electrical outlets, that no welding or grinding occurs near it, and that smoking areas are far away.

Tips for Flammable Safety Cabinet Placement

Location is one of the most important things to consider when you equip your facility with flammable safety cabinets. Don't put any in exit paths. If a fire breaks out in or near the cabinet, it can endanger the lives of your workers by making emergency escape routes difficult to access.

Safety cabinets also should not be placed under stairways. A good rule of thumb is to place flammable safety cabinets in areas that are least likely to affect emergency evacuations.

It's tempting to keep your safety cabinets on pallets since that's most likely how they'll arrive at your facility. But, doing so violates OSHA regulations and goes against the manufacturer’s installation recommendations. Storing your flammable safety cabinets on wooden pallets increases the risk of a fire. If the wood ignites, the cabinet might fall over and expose flammable chemicals to the flames. A pallet also gives the cabinet extra height, which could cause the internal temperature to increase more quickly than it did during the product’s fire test.

Flammable safety cabinets should be stored on a level surface, and pallets tend to be uneven. Pallets can also prevent you from grounding the cabinet.

Flammable safety cabinets don't just keep their contents protected from fire – they also give your workers time to get out of the area before things go from bad to worse. Keep your safety cabinets away from potential sources of ignition, such as panel boards and electrical outlets. Also, make sure that activities like welding and grinding aren't performed near safety cabinets and that smoking areas are nowhere near areas where flammable liquids or chemicals are used or stored.

Protect Your Workers from Occupational Hazards

Safety cabinets with self-closing doors are the safest option for your facility. Your employees might not always close the doors when they use a safety cabinet. If a fire occurs, they won't be able to approach it. When you use flammable safety cabinets with self-closing doors, the fusible links melt when the temperature hits 165 degrees Fahrenheit, causing the doors to slam.

Another aspect of protecting your workers is to know when to ground your flammable safety cabinets. Every Justrite flammable liquid safety cabinet includes exterior grounding lugs, and you'll need to use them when Class 1 flammable liquids are dispensed within your safety cabinet. Grounding is also a good idea when your workers dispense Class 2 combustible liquids, but it's only necessary when the liquids are near their flashpoint temperature. It's always better to be safe than sorry, so it's never a bad idea to ground flammable safety cabinets.

Choosing the Best Industrial Safety Cabinet for Your Needs

Different models are appropriate for different facilities and uses. If you need a flammable safety cabinet for a laboratory worktop, an under-counter model is the safest choice. If your safety cabinet needs to fit in a tight space, you'll want to go with a slimline model. If you need extra storage capacity, your best bet is a piggyback model, which is designed to mount on top of 30-gallon and 45-gallon Sure-Grip® EX Flammable Safety Cabinets.

All Justrite flammable safety cabinets meet OSHA and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards. These sturdy safety cabinets are available in a wide variety of sizes to meet the needs of any facility. You can count on Justrite for trusted safety solutions to help you protect your workers.

Previously Featured on Justrite's Workplace Safety Articles and News.

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