Updated: Dec 23, 2021
Industrial gases of all sorts have played a role in engineering, cooking, farming, and entertainment in some way, shape, or form. It’s helped shape the world and technology in the way it is today and will do so much for the future. Carbon dioxide, helium, nitrogen, and propane are only a few to make mention of, and many industries use gas cylinders on a regular basis. With such heavy use of these gases, there are lots of things to be careful of when it comes to industrial gas safety. Everyone and anyone in range of a gas cylinder under operation needs to take something as basic as safety precautions and emergency situations seriously. There are dangers of not keeping an eye out for potential gas leaks and keeping track of how much gas is present using gas detectors. Any form of miscare could lead to some pretty bad side-effects. There are lots of side effects people can experience, depending on the gas, and it’s good to know what some of the more common ones are.
When too much gas fills an enclosed space, it starts to displace oxygen. With less and less oxygen in the room, you’ll be experiencing gas poisoning. A variety of symptoms can arise when you’re hit with this form of poison. Asphyxiation, or oxygen deprivation, is one of them.
We humans are aerobic, which means oxygen is an absolute require to stay alive. Without it, you can be hit with the symptoms of asphyxiation. You can experience headaches, nausea, and if the situation isn’t handled after some time, suffocation. Most industrial gases have this side effect if they are mishandled. This can easily be avoided by making sure you keep the tank closed while it is either being stored indoors or is not being in use. Closing the regulator would be the proper procedure to keep from oxygen deprivation from happening.
Oxygen displacement is to be expected when a gas tank is left leaking for prolonged periods of time. Anyone inside that room with oxygen slowly dissipating like that will experience oxygen deprivation. If, for whatever reason, the leak isn’t handled in time and you are still in the presence of the overabundance of gas, even while experiencing asphyxiation, you can experience brain injury.
You can survive without it, but only for about 3 or 4 minutes max. If you’re in a room with little oxygen to begin with, you’ll immediately experience the effects of oxygen deprivation. Blurred vision, tiredness, and confusion are some of the first symptoms to experience when you have brain damage. Some of the more serious symptoms include seizures, nausea, and loss of consciousness. Like oxygen deprivation, the leaking of most gases can lead to these serious after effects. Although, some of them have the potential to do more than take away your oxygen or hurt your brain.
Gas leaks aren’t the only thing that lead to injuries. Improperly handling gas tanks can lead to injury and damaged tanks. Depending on the gas, their expulsion in gaseous form can have different temperatures, usually in extreme. Frostbite is an injury to the body by exposure to extremely cold temperatures. They can create some nasty bumps to any body part the freezing cold is damaging. Depending on the severity of the freezing effects, the skin can darken the skin with black and blues and it can develop blood-clots and blisters, both of which damage blood vessels and negatively affect blood flow.
Nitrogen and dry ice are both capable of causing frostbite. Actually, any gas that’s naturally cryogenic can do this. Preventing gas leaks from happening can prevent frostbite. Though regardless, you want to keep the gas from having any contact with your skin, whether it’s in use or not.
There are three levels of burn damage one can experience: 1st-degree burns, 2nd-degree burns, and 3rd degree burns. 1st-degree burns are minor burns. For example, getting sunburns, touching hot cooking pots, or scalding hot water. The skin usually reddens and gets dry and peelable. The pain tends to go away after about two or three days. A 2nd-degree burn causes the skin to get, swell, charred, and blister. Fires, wet heated substances (steam for example), and many chemicals are capable of this.
The final level of burn damage is, as you probably guessed already, a 3rd-degree burn. Take what a 2nd-degree burn would look like, and turn it all the way up to 10! They can get pretty nasty. It actually has the potential to kill nerve endings, so if you don’t feel anything on the affected area, that’s why.
