Gas Detection Program Essentials

Gas detection plays a fundamental role in protecting workers and sites from toxic gases. A dependable gas detection program should have a healthy combination of various fundamental elements. A truly successful gas detection program should take into consideration more than just meeting compliance requirements.

Below are a few essential considerations for developing a successful gas detection program.

• Understand the Application and Environment: When selecting a gas detection instrument and sensor, it’s important to review the specification sheets and consult with your product provider to ensure that the type of environment these items will be placed in fits the certification ratings in regard to enclosures, temperatures, access for calibration, wiring, and communication.
• Evaluate Maintenance Requirements: Managing a gas detection system to optimize all the features offered doesn’t just include implementation, but maintenance, repairs and upgrades. It’s important to understand what on-going maintenance of a system will entail prior to purchasing the corresponding products and components. Learn more about the importance of evaluating and understanding gas detection system maintenance by reading our previously published gas detection system management article.
• Evaluate All Primary Gas Detection Instrument Utilization Types: Determine which primary type of detection instruments serve your specific needs. It’s likely that you will need a combination of fixed, portable, and personal gas detection instruments. ION Science manufactures a range of technologically advanced gas and leak detectors for a wide variety of gases.
  • Fixed: Fixed gas detectors are generally installed in large facilities and are used to both detect major leaks and provide early warnings of gas leaking from a particular system. Fixed gas detection systems are configured using relays and customizable alarm point settings. These settings ensure that fixed gas detectors respond quickly to atmospheric hazards.
  • Portable: Portable gas detectors keep workers safe from atmospheric hazards. These detectors operate at a close range to the user, are handheld, and lightweight devices that can be held or attached to a belt.
  • Personal: Personal gas detectors keep workers safe from atmospheric hazards by continuously monitoring the user’s breathing zone. These detectors must operate at close range to the user.

• Build Your Company’s Safety Culture: Building a safety culture for job sites that’s both respected and understood is vital. A few ways to ensure the team is properly utilizing equipment and protocols is to set goals, be inclusive of all ranks and job titles, assign responsibilities that are agreed upon collectively, communicate regularly, and implement training.
• Implement Sustainability: Implementing and maintaining sustainability is an effort that every level of a business must support. At ION Science, we believe that a business must perform highly in all areas of Environment, Social & Governance (ESG)—and that includes your gas detection program. Choosing the “right” sensors and instruments should extend to choosing products that will be conducive to also serving your company’s ESG efforts.
• Think Past Your Site’s Border: Advanced gas detection solutions help industrial sites and surrounding communities understand how the emissions controls benefit all parties. Fenceline monitoring instruments, such as the Falco fenceline fixed gas detector, offers continuous, fast, and reliable detection in high-humidity environments. These types of instruments help ensure emissions management systems are working as planned, and if they are not, can implement actions to diagnose any potential issues and make adjustments well before emissions levels become hazardous to the community or workers.
• Strictly Follow Instrument Calibration and Power/Recharging Guidelines: Gas detection should be calibrated regularly because sensors can drift over time, which can affect gas readings. Gas detection instruments only work as effectively as possible when their sensors are properly calibrated. And portable/personal instruments can only work when they’re charged. Ensure all parties who will be using the instruments on-site understand how frequently they should be calibrated and charged to ensure they’re actually working when hazardous gases may be present. ION Science recommends that your instruments are recalibrated on an annual basis to ensure they continue to provide you with accurate, reliable results and that they maintain their extended warranty.
• Utilize State-of-the-Art Technology That’s Industry Proven: Choosing a gas detection provider that is at the forefront of the industry helps ensure that the technology at your application will be safe, effective, and efficient. A successful gas detection program fulfills expectations and objectives, is not complicated to use, and it enhances safety outcomes. When combining gas detection equipment with software extensions, programs often experience improvements with uptime, compliance, safety processes, informed decision making, and alerts.

 

For a truly successful program, products and people must work together effectively. Reviewing safety and health programs and procedures is vital across industries to ensure compliance and optimal quick-thinking solutions during an emergency.

And remember–gas detection systems are not one size fits all! Implementing the most suitable products and technology for your specific application is key. As-is maintaining your system. ION Science offers a portfolio of instruments and sensors to monitor volatile organic chemicals to ensure the continued safety of companies and plants. Click here to view our instruments. Click here to view our industry-leading PID sensor line.

For more information regarding gas detection, industry, and company updates and articles, visit our News page. For more information regarding your specific gas detection program, call us at +1 (877) 864-7710 or info@ionscienceusa.com today!