Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fire-fighting
equipment
Building
Boundary fence
Truck ramp
Retaining sill
Building
Fire wall
Maximum stack
capacity 300 000 litres
Note:
See Table 8.3 and the text
for minimum distances
shown by dashed arrows
Figure 8.17
Example of a well laid out external storage facility for fl ammable chemicals - HSG 140
developed and implemented that:
➤
Keep rubbish and anything combustible well away
from the cylinders, and keep weeds and grass in
the vicinity cut down (avoid using a chlorate-based
weedkiller, as it can be a fi re hazard in itself)
➤
Prevent any electrical equipment, vehicles, bonfi res
or other sources of ignition near the cylinders
➤
Prevent smoking when changing cylinders
➤
Prevent people not involved with the storage or
installation gaining access to it, particularly children
(construction sites particularly)
➤
Keep vehicles well away from the installation (fi re
and impact hazard)
➤
Protect against accidental damage, ensuring that
pipework is properly routed and supported. In the
case of underground routing that schematic dia-
grams of the pipe routes are drawn up, to avoid
putting anything in the ground which may damage
the pipework
➤
Enable reports of any equipment failure or damage
to the supplier without delay.
Figure 8.18
External storage arrangements for LPG
Ventilation of any building used for a fl ammable
material store must also be considered; the ventilation
apertures or bricks must be so positioned to allow air
fl ow within the building/store and must be positioned
at both high and low level. The apertures must not be
sited so that they allow ventilation to other buildings or
to external areas that could contain ignition sources. The
number of apertures (based upon the total fl oor area in
per cent) required will depend on the substance stored,
e.g. 1% fl ammable liquid and 2.5% fl ammable gases.
Additional measures would be required for stores
that cannot be positioned in separate buildings, particu-
larly the fi re resistant separation from other parts of the
building as shown in Fig. 8.19.
Internal storage
- where fl ammable substances can
be stored within specially designed separate buildings,
safe by position, the same control measures as those
required for outdoor storage, with the additional require-
ment that the building should generally be constructed
of non-combustible material and the roof of the building
be of lightweight materials, may be used. The roof would
open readily to release the effects of an explosion, there-
fore acting as explosion relief.
