Eugene
There are many important lessons with what you have shared. We are all glad that you were not injured.
With regards,
Mike
Michael N. Cooper MS, MPH, NRRPT
Certified Industrial Hygienist
Principal Scientist
mcooperconsulting**At_Symbol_Here**yahoo.com
(408) 313-2127
> On May 20, 2016, at 9:59 AM, Eugene Ngai
>
> Some of you might have seen a video of a safety demo that I did this week that went terribly wrong. I am ashamed that I ignored some deviations and continued to do my silane demo that I have done many times in the past without incident. With almost 100 people watching I had an uncontrolled silane vent/fire of 1600 psig that torched my Nomex coveralls, hood and faceshield. This 15 sec event seemed like 20 minutes as I desperately tried to shutoff the flow. The 3 ft flame was at the cylinder valve and the radiant heat was intense as I reached for the alternate shutoff valve, I was worried that the aluminum nitrogen purge cylinder was going to explode due to the heat. My PPE saved me from burns. I was fortunate to have turned and ducked as the flames came over my head at one point.
>
> I have been campaigning for silane safety for more than 10 years and yet I ignored some basic rules. 44 years of handling silane under many conditions and still I was so stupid. God saved me for another day
>
> Luck should not be part of the safety program
>
> Eugene Ngai
> Chemically Speaking LLC