Re: Door swing in NMR room?

 
Very good point, actually before entering the room the atmosphere needs to
be checked and there should continuous monitoring of the atm0sphere  with
an  low alarm set at around 19% not lower than 18% in any case.
The doors have to open outwards always
Sujit
Sujit Sengupta
President
ADMIRA DISTRIBUTED HYBRID ENERGY SYSTEMS INC.
19055079705
16478949715
On Wed, Jan 11, 2012 at 1:23 AM, Jean & Ken Smith
<smith.j.k**At_Symbol_Here**sbcglobal.net>wrote:

Hi Ralph,

The responses are good to the point of the request, but I have one
additional item that should be definitely considered.  Have you thought to
install an oxygen meter and alarm in the NMR room?  The oxygen can be
depleted rapidly and the person inside would be unaware of it if it was a
non-rapid release of gas.  We had a number of liquid N2 cylinders in our
labs and required the O2 alarms regardless of the ventilation air
changes/hour.  It is another level of safety that is needed.

KEN

ex CIH now retired

-----Original Message-----
*From:* DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU] *On
Behalf Of *Don Abramowitz
*Sent:* Tuesday, January 10, 2012 1:43 PM
*To:* DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
*Subject:* Re: [DCHAS-L] Door swing in NMR room?

The door swing for the NMR is based on a reason that surprised me when I
first came across it.  I learned of the recommendation to have the door
swing out into the hallway from the installation manual that came with our
new NMR, purchased a couple of years ago.  (Ralph, I will track that down
as a reference.)
The reason is that in the event of a quench, the extremely rapid release
of gas in the room can pressurize the room to the extent that it would be
impossible to open the door if you had to pull it open.  By the time the
exhaust ventilation relieved the overpressure, you'd be a goner.

We had the carpenters reverse the swing of our door.  It was quite simple
and inexpensive.

                   Don

Donald Abramowitz, CIH
Environmental Health & Safety Officer
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr, PA
------------------------------

A question has arisen here with regard to the direction of the entrance
door swing in a room containing an NMR. Some people have suggested that due
to the asphyxiation potential of a quenching of the instrument, the door
should swing out of the room into hallway. Does anyone know of a regulatory
requirement for this or a reference that suggests that this be used as a
best practice?

Thanks for any help with this.

- Ralph

Ralph Stuart CIH
Laboratory Ventilation Specialist
Department of Environmental Health and Safety
Cornell University

rstuart**At_Symbol_Here**cornell.edu

--f46d043c7de42913a704b6458a1b
 
Very good point, actually before entering the room the atmosphere needs to be checked and there should continuous monitoring of the atm0sphere  withan  low alarm set at around 19% not lower than 18% in any case.
The doors have to open outwards always

Sujit
Sujit Sengupta
President
ADMIRA DISTRIBUTED HYBRID ENERGY SYSTEMS INC.
19055079705
16478949715


On Wed, Jan 11, 2012 at 1:23 AM, Jean & Ken Smith <smith.j.k**At_Symbol_Here**sbcglobal.net> wrote:








Hi Ralph,

The responses are good to the point of the request, but I
have one additional item that should be definitely considered.  Have you thought
to install an oxygen meter and alarm in the NMR room?  The oxygen can be
depleted rapidly and the person inside would be unaware of it if it was a
non-rapid release of gas.  We had a number of liquid N2 cylinders in our
labs and required the O2 alarms regardless of the ventilation air changes/hour. 
It is another level of safety that is needed.

KEN

ex CIH now retired


 

-----Original Message-----

From: DCHAS-L Discussion List
[mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU] On Behalf Of
Don Abramowitz

Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2012
1:43 PM

To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU

Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Door swing
in NMR room?

 



The door swing for the NMR is
based on a reason that surprised me when I first came across it.  I
learned of the recommendation to have the door swing out into the hallway from
the installation manual that came with our new NMR, purchased a couple of years
ago.  (Ralph, I will track that down as a reference.)




The reason is that in the event of a quench, the extremely rapid release ofgas
in the room can pressurize the room to the extent that it would be impossible
to open the door if you had to pull it open.  By the time the exhaust
ventilation relieved the overpressure, you'd be a goner.  



We had the carpenters reverse the swing of our door.  It was quite simple
and inexpensive.



                   
Don




Donald Abramowitz, CIH

Environmental Health & Safety Officer

Bryn Mawr College

Bryn Mawr, PA







 









A
question has arisen here with regard to the direction of the entrance door
swing in a room containing an NMR. Some people have suggested that due to the
asphyxiation potential of a quenching of the instrument, the door should swing
out of the room into hallway. Does anyone know of a regulatory requirement for
this or a reference that suggests that this be used as a best practice?



Thanks for any help with this.



- Ralph



Ralph Stuart CIH

Laboratory Ventilation Specialist

Department of Environmental Health and Safety

Cornell University



rstuart**At_Symbol_Here**cornell.edu