An emergency medical tech/fire fighter told me years ago: if you can move
someone who's on the floor, use the blanket as a cushion/thermal layer
between them & the cold concrete floor.

Sheila
_________________________________
Sheila Kennedy, C.H.O.
RETIRED 4/2019 ... currently painting the office/guest room
s1kennedy**At_Symbol_Here**ucsd.edu
_________________________________

-----Original Message-----
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety On
Behalf Of Mayo, Bret
Sent: Wednesday, June 19, 2019 7:32 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Fire blankets training?

I am regularly asked if we need fire blankets in the lab and my answer is
always "YES!" followed by explanations why, some of which don't have
anything to do with a fire:

- I have seen situations where hitting a fire with an extinguisher made the
problem worse. Example: a container of burning solvent was hit and the
force of the extinguisher blew burning solvent all over the place. The same
thing happened one time when a fire started in a trash can full of paper
towels. When we debriefed after these incidents, we decided that under
these particular circumstances, covering the area with a fire blanket and
following up with an extinguisher would have been a better approach.

- A couple of times we had to use a lab safety shower in response to a
chemical exposure (no fire) and the occupants in the lab were mixed genders
and included cultures in which disrobing in public in front of the other
gender was very difficult. In both cases, lab workers followed the training
we had suggested and used the fire blankets as a kind of curtain to give the
person under the shower a little privacy while all the males in the lab were
told to leave and go get some females to assist. Because we had discussed
this scenario prior to the incidents, the whole process happened very
quickly and worked out well.

- If someone goes down hard in a lab and can't safely be moved, a fire
blanket can be used to keep them warm and stave off some of the effects of
shock until emergency medical personnel arrive.

Bret Mayo
NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY

-----Original Message-----
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety On
Behalf Of Stuart, Ralph
Sent: Wednesday, June 19, 2019 8:43 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Fire blankets training?

I am preparing a lab emergency response training for our summer
undergraduate research students. Two questions have arisen in this process:

1. I wonder what the current best practice is with regard to fire blankets
in labs? I believe that using a safety shower or the "Stop, Drop and Roll"
response to a person on fire is preferred to using a fire blanket on a
person. However, would a handy fire blanket be a better suppression system
than a fire extinguisher for incipient fires, if occupants are not likely to
have fire extinguisher training? It seems like grabbing a fire blanket and
throwing it on the fire is a simpler process than using a fire extinguisher.

2. According to the archives at ilpi.com, the last time we discussed first
aid kits on the list was about 2015. Am I correct that the primary goal of a
lab first aid kit (given no chemicals which require exotic first aid) is to
control bleeding?

Thanks for any thoughts on these questions.

- Ralph

Ralph Stuart, CIH, CCHO
Environmental Safety Manager
Keene State College
603 358-2859

ralph.stuart**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu

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