Chemical safety cabinet FM or EN certification, which one has a higher level?
Chemicals are commonly used products in factories, laboratories, warehouses, research institutes, medical institutions and other workplaces, especially dangerous chemicals such as flammable, explosive, toxic, harmful, and corrosive. These products are necessary in some jobs and are also a huge safety hazard in the workplace.
In order to prevent such accidents from happening, foreign countries have formulated many strict safety standards and developed and manufactured various equipment to reduce accidents caused by chemicals.
At present, most factories or laboratories in China, in order to cope with safety inspections, generally buy yellow storage cabinets that have not passed safety certification, mainly FM fireproof safety cabinets. However, few people know about fireproof safety cabinets under the EN 14470-1 standard. In fact, the EN 14470-1 standard is much higher than the FM standard.
The fire retardant time requirement under the FM standard is 10 minutes, and the fire retardant time under the EN 14470-1 standard is divided into 15, 30, 60 and 90 minutes. In the event of a fire, it is necessary to ensure that the chemicals stored in the safety cabinet will not create additional risks within the specified time to prevent the spread of the fire. Especially in high-risk situations, more evacuation time means more lives can be saved and more property can be protected.
EN 14470-1 is a safety standard for the storage of chemicals established in Europe in April 2004. It contains three main basic safety requirements:
a. Reduce the risk of fires caused by chemicals stored in safety cabinets and improve the protection of these materials in the event of a fire. The latter is therefore determined by a fire resistance time (FR, in minutes).
b. Reduce the emission of chemical gases into the environment;
c. Keep the leakage of chemical gases inside the cabinet.+
Fire performance: EN 14470-1 safety cabinets can be classified into the following categories according to their fire resistance:
▪ Type 15 - The fire resistance of the safety cabinet is not less than 15 minutes;
▪ Type 30 - The fire resistance of the safety cabinet is not less than 30 minutes;
▪ Type 60 - The fire resistance of the safety cabinet is not less than 60 minutes;
▪ Type 90 - The fire resistance of the safety cabinet is not less than 90 minutes;
|
Flash point |
Flammability |
Chemicals |
Safety cabinet fire resistance |
|
FP > 55℃ |
Slightly flammable |
Fuel, oil and gas |
Type 15 |
|
55 °℃ > FP > 21℃ |
Generally flammable |
Liquor, turpentine |
Type 30 |
|
21℃ > FP > 0℃ |
Highly flammable |
Ethanol, methanol |
Type 60 |
|
FP < 0℃ |
Extremely flammable |
Acetone, ether |
Type 90 |
▪ Yellow safety cabinets store flammable items with a flash point below 45°. For example: gasoline, alcohol (ethanol), kerosene, methanol (wood alcohol or wood spirit), ether, benzene, etc.;
▪ Red safety cabinets store flammable items with a flash point above 45°. For example: diesel, engine oil, lubricating oil, tung oil, etc.;
▪ Blue safety cabinets are used to store various weak corrosive items or weak acids and alkalis. For example: acetic acid, carbonic acid, phosphoric acid, silicic acid, etc.
In addition to the fire performance requirements, EN 14470-1 fireproof safety cabinets also have the following important requirements:
Anti-leakage pool: All safety cabinets need to be equipped with a leakage pool, which should be installed at the lowest horizontal position of the safety cabinet. Leakage pool size:
1. Not less than 10% of the total capacity of the containers stored in the safety cabinet;
2. Not less than 110% of the volume of the largest single container stored, whichever is the larger capacity.
Structure: The cabinet body and door panels are double-layer structures with a heat-insulating layer in the middle, and the thickness of each wall is consistent. The cabinet body is a steel plate structure with epoxy resin sprayed on the surface. Continuous spark-free hinges ensure that the cabinet door opens and closes smoothly and safely, without screw holes, and the fully welded structure is safer.
The door gap and all joints are equipped with special heat-sensitive materials. When the indoor temperature rises to 70℃, they will automatically expand and fill the gap to ensure that the inside of the cabinet is sealed. The hot melt device starts when the room temperature rises to 50℃ and automatically releases and closes the cabinet door. There is an electrostatic grounding conduction port to facilitate the connection of the electrostatic grounding wire. There is an exhaust port on the top of the cabinet, which can be equipped with an air filter device and a spark-proof explosion-proof fan, which is connected to the ventilation system.
Marking and labeling: The cabinet must be affixed with warning labels, and the label specifications must comply with ISO 3864 standards. For example:
"Caution against fire", "No open flames and smoking", etc.;
Fire resistance, in minutes, for example: 15, 30, 60 or 90;
It is recommended that the cabinet door must be kept closed when not in use;
The capacity of the largest single container, the anti-spill capacity;
Maximum load capacity;
Product name and/or manufacturer's trademark.
Maximum storage capacity: In a fire-resistant safety cabinet, the volume of flammable liquids stored shall not exceed the following requirements: 1. Fragile containers 1.1 Extremely flammable and highly flammable chemicals shall not exceed 60 liters 1.2 General flammable chemicals shall not exceed 200 liters 2. Other containers 2.1 Extremely flammable and highly flammable chemicals shall not exceed 450 liters 2.2 General flammable chemicals shall not exceed 3,000 liters
There are many types of hazardous chemicals, and each type of hazardous chemical should be stored in a dedicated storage container.
ZOYET safety cabinet series products have passed EN1447-1: 2004; EN14470-2: 2006 certification, and meet the requirements of US OSHA 29 CFR 1910.106 and NFPA 30 Chapter 4.3.3
▪ Passed EU RoHS mandatory standard certification
▪ Possess explosion-proof and fire-proof testing certifications from domestic authoritative institutions
Notice on Illegal Storage of Hazardous Chemicals
Related Article
There are two types of illegal storage:
1. The fire hazard classification of the storage warehouse does not match the items;
2. The storage method is not right.