Kim

Here are relevant data

Heat of Combustion kJ/g

Gasoline 47

Polypropylene 46

Polyester 31

Cotton 16

Here are ignition temps

Relative summary of the flammability properties of fibers:
 

Source: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) (Australia)

The conclusions are fairly obvious – Polypro and Polyester are solidified gasoline. Mixtures dilute the energy.

When I go to refineries and other “increased risk” locations, I wear only cotton.

In my reactives workshop, I discuss garment choice, in particular bras, underpants, and tee shirts!

It is fun to watch the facial reactions…..

I consider this one of the overlooked topics in lab/ pilot plant safety – I learned this lesson at production plants.

nl

Here, scrubs are reserved for certain groups of people, but that’s a good point. It’s something I wouldn’t have thought to recommend for lab workers just because they are normally associated with these specific groups.

Why do they need to be jeans?  How about a set of cotton scrubs.  Inexpensive and serve the purpose.

Doing some back to school shopping this weekend, I had an aha moment.  My traditional go to “uniform” for doing laboratory inspections has always included jeans.  It’s becoming very difficult to find women’s jeans that don’t include some percentage of polyester and spandex (e.g. the magic ratio appears to be something like 70ish% cotton, 2% spandex and the balance being polyester).  My assumption is that these blends would not hold up well to contact with corrosives and are not something you would want on your body during a fire situation.  I’m wondering if this is something that organizations have had to factor into their training in recent years and if anyone has seen actual data about how the blends hold up against these kinds of hazards.

Kim

Kimberly Begley Jeskie, MPH-OSHM

Director, Integrated Operations Support Division

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

(865)574-4945 (work)

(865)919-4134 (cell)