Quick assessment of explosion hazard in small premises

Workplace safety and emergency procedures require the identification of explosion risks. For this reason, EU Directives as ATEX (Atmosphere Explosives) normative have been specifically issued, with the aims of protecting worker safety, properties, environment and population. Besides, the cited law requires strong expertise and knowledge of the complex science involved in explosion phenomena, which is not straightforward in small and medium enterprises. Indeed, a large amount of published work concerns explosion hazard in large-scale industrial environment, whereas there is a clear lack of studies concerning the risk assessment of explosion in small premises like laboratories, workshops, garages and others. In this work, a management tool for small premises that allows the identification of explosion hazard through a rapid screening of the workplace and the recognition of a limited number of indicators, as the properties of material stored or manipulated and the adopted mitigation systems, has been developed. The tool is essentially based on the maximum quantities of flammable substances and allows the quick assessment of explosion hazard starting from the visual screening or inspection of the workplace. Copyright © 2015, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.