Monoplace Delivery System

Monthly Hyperbaric Safety Notice: September 2007

Oxygen Regulator Fires

Background

In April of 2006 the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) along with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an important warning for those responsible for the handling of regulators of compressed oxygen.

The Issue

Once compressed oxygen is emptied from its cylinder, the regulator and seal is removed and transferred onto a new full oxygen cylinder. Depending of the type of seal being used, this is a potentially hazardous situation. The Compressed Gas Association (CGA) has two types of washers that are commonly used to create a seal at the cylinder valve and regulator interface. One is the reusablemetal sealing washer and the other is the single useplastic crush gasket.

Out of convenience, many times the operator will reuse the same plastic gaskets between cylinders. Due the high torque applied to the plastic seal, deformity and damage can occur with each successive use. This allows for leakage of oxygen across the gasket surface that may produce enough thermal energy to ignite.

Bottom Line

Do not reuse plastic crush gaskets. Read this material for more detailed information, recommendations on proper handling and photo examples.

Stacy Handley, RN, BSN, ACHRN, CWCN

Stacy Handley Stacy is Vice President of National Baromedical Services. She assumed her present position following several years as nurse manager of the NBS hyperbaric medicine service at Memorial Hospital, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Stacy oversees the patient care aspects of the NBS network, conducts quality assurance and compliance assessments and preceptors all new NBS nurse managers. Additional responsibilities include marketing and promotion of NBS service lines and generation of monthly safety notices. Stacy is Member at Large for the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society Associates and a board member for the Baromedical Nurses Association. She has trained as a Hyperbaric Safety Director and a UHMS faculty accreditation surveyor, and is a graduate of the Medical University of South Carolina ‘Wound Care Specialty Course’ through which she obtained her wound care certification

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