Have you just purchased and installed a new indoor flammable liquids cabinet? Now is the right time to put into place the correct stacking and loading practices. As Dangerous Goods Specialists, our team often see customers purchasing flammable liquids cabinets — only to render them non-compliant with careless loading and housekeeping practices. Your flammable cabinet is a high-tech safety device that has proven chemical control measures to help keep your organisation safe. So, it’s vital that you and your staff know how to stack and load a Class 3 Flammable Liquids cabinet correctly, so you can maintain a safe, compliant workplace.
In this blog, we’ll explain the 5 things you should do to make sure that your new flammable cabinet is installed and operating in the correct manner. It’s a good idea to use this blog as the basis of your next staff training session or safety forum — so everyone in your workplace can be on the same page when it comes to chemical compliance. Now, let’s get started.
It’s critically important to correctly install your indoor flammable liquids cabinet as soon as it arrives at your worksite. So, the first thing you should do is select a location for your new safety cabinet that meets the compliance requirements.
To maintain the flammable cabinet’s ability to provide liquid tight spill containment, you must choose a level surface for it to be installed on.
Flammable liquid cabinets are specifically engineered to direct leaking or spilled chemicals into the lower compound (which acts as a liquid tight spill sump). Therefore, your new safety cabinet must be placed on a solid base that’s completely level — and at least 3 metres away from any ignition sources or heat.
Install your new flammable cabinet on a solid, level base to assist with effective spill containment
If your cabinet is not level it may be rendered non-compliant because:
Once you have determined the correct location for your cabinet, you must make sure that it’s not moved from that position. If the cabinet must be relocated, it should be done so with permission from an authorised staff member such as a HSE Manager or Safety Committee member.
IMPORTANT: Why not familiarise yourself with the compliant cabinet installation and loading practices? You can find them in Section 4 of Australian Standard AS1940:2017 – The storage and handling of flammable and combustible liquids.
Now that your new safety cabinet is correctly installed, it’s time to train your workers and their supervisors in the correct methods to loading a flammable cabinet.
Staff training should focus on these essential practices:
REMEMBER: Flammable liquids cabinets are not designed for other chemical hazard classes, so don’t put corrosives, toxic substances, gas cylinders, oxidisers, explosives, or organic peroxides into the cabinet.
To ensure that the safety cabinet is properly sealed, flammable liquids cabinets must have self-closing doors that are close fitting.
These cabinets are specifically designed to:
Your compliant cabinet features self-closing doors that provide multiple risk control measures.
Never allow your staff to prop open doors with sticks or wire — as this can render the cabinet non-compliant.
Do you need to install latches to hold the doors open? Then make sure that the latches fail and release the door if temperatures rise above 80°C.
IMPORTANT: Please contact our Dangerous Goods specialists here at STOREMASTA if you have any concerns about the self-closing doors or need assistance reviewing your cabinet loading practices.
When it comes to determining the cabinet capacity, all staff should be made aware of the capacity requirements. The maximum load capacity of an indoor flammable liquids cabinet is clearly marked on the front of the cabinet, so there should be no confusion.
It’s important that your workplace training and operational procedures include the cabinet’s maximum load capacity. If your cabinet is loaded past its capacity, it will be rendered unsafe and non-compliant.
Overloading your cabinets will render them non-compliant and pose serious risks and hazards for your workplace.
An overloaded safety cabinet may no longer be able to:
IMPORTANT: The capacity of the spill containment sump is based on the largest container that can be stored in the cabinet, so make sure your workers know the size of the maximum allowable container.
Your new flammable liquids cabinet will arrive with mandatory safety signs and warning placards in place. These must always remain clearly visible, including when the cabinet doors are closed.
You should also be aware that the exterior of the cabinet should not become shelving for other items. We often see the top of flammable cabinets loaded with decanting activities, files and paperwork, or potential ignition sources.
To keep your flammable liquids safe and compliant, please ensure that you train your workers and contractors to:
Class 3 Flammable Liquids cabinets that have been manufactured according to the specifications of Australian Standard AS1940:2017 are reliable risk control measures — provided they are stacked and loaded correctly. If you’d like to learn more about storing flammables in a compliant manner, why not access our easy-to-read eBook? Essential Considerations When Storing Flammable Liquids Indoors explains how you can use and store flammable liquids safely indoors at your workplace. Our guide is also a handy tool that can assist with your next safety training session or workplace risk assessment.
Download and read our FREE eBook today by simply clicking on the image below.