Friends,

It's great to see that so many CH'ers get such dramatic and effective relief with O2.  It seems, though, that there is very little posted regarding some important safety considerations when handling O2.  We've touched on the "No Smoking" rule on occasion, but did you know that many substances, particularly certain oils and greases, will spontaneously erupt into fire or even an explosion if they come into contact with pure o2?

I work in the chemical industry, and this week we received the following Safety bulletin - WARNING!  Graphic Image of Burn Injury - Viewer discretion advised!:

"SAFETY BULLETIN 1
COMPRESSED GAS SAFETY
Issued 09.02.2009 1
The following incident involved a welder who was adjusting the pressure on
an oxygen regulator.
The welder had oil on his hand and there was an oxygen leak from the hose
clamp.

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General Precautions
Oxygen under pressure and hydrocarbons (oil and grease) can react
violently, resulting in explosions, fire and injury to personnel and damage to
property.
Never allow oil or grease to come into contact with oxygen under pressure.
SAFETY BULLETIN 1
COMPRESSED GAS SAFETY
Issued 09.02.2009 2
Even a small amount of hydrocarbon can be hazardous in the presence of
high oxygen concentrations. In fact, any organic matter in contact with oxygen
under pressure could have a violent reaction.
Installation Precautions
DO Maintain the pressure element assembly and connection free from
dirt and any grease or grime.
DO Follow the manufacturer's instruction manual for the correct
pressure ranges to be used and for proper care and storage.
DO Use the proper size wrench to secure the gauge to the regulator.
DO Use only the thread sealant recommended by the manufacturer.
DO Leak test the gas outlet connection using soap solution prior to
use.
DO NOT Touch oxygen regulators or cylinder heads with hands or gloves
that are contaminated with oil, grease, grime or any organic
material. An explosion could result.
DO NOT Install a low pressure gauge into the high pressure port on a
regulator. Always double check.
DO NOT Use gauges designed for a specific gas for a different gas, e.g.
never use an oxygen gauge for acetylene.
DO NOT Exchange gauges from one regulator to another.
DO NOT Remove the restrictor installed in the gauge connection. The
restrictor limits gas flow and aids in limiting temperature rise due
to adiabatic compression.
DO NOT Use or handle gas regulators unless you are authorised and
qualified to do so.
Operating Precautions
Gauges can fail during operation and the energy contained in the
compressed gases can produce violent effects should the pressure element
assembly rupture.
DO Always apply cylinder pressure slowly. The gas may heat up due
to compression and ignite. This is called adiabatic compression.
DO Stand with the cylinder between you and the regulator when
turning on the gas cylinder. This will reduce the possibility of injury
from flying parts should the pressure element assembly rupture.
DO Use good judgement and common sense. Know the hazards of
the materials you work with.
DO NOT Use clamps or substitute materials that are not approved by the
regulator manufacturer."

Here's a link that's a "Must read" for O2 users, too:

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Please note, I am not suggesting that anyone give up their O2, that it doesn't work, or that you shouldn't use it.  Just know what you're dealing with, and PLEASE be careful with it!

Very best regards,
Jim

Jim,

Several of us worked on a Supplemental O2 User's Guide that we published on OUCH in May of 2007.  It has a complete section on oxygen safety.  It's still on OUCH for download at:

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There should be a link to it somewhere here on CH.com.

There's also a later generation video of "The Man from LOX" at:

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The original was from the Navy Safety Center and was mandatory viewing for all aviation types.

In general, people who exercise common sense when using oxygen therapy for their cluster headaches will be perfectly safe.  It's the folks that light up a cigarette while filling their car with gas that will have problems with oxygen...  I guess they're just eager to get to the bottom of the gene pool.

Take care,

V/R, Batch

EXCELLENT post!!!

We sometimes forget to mention the safety aspect when we are praising the virtues of oxygen therapy ...

Thanks for the reminder!

Chuck

Batch wrote on Apr 26^th, 2009 at 9:06pm:

In general, people who exercise common sense when using oxygen therapy for their cluster headaches will be perfectly safe.  It's the folks that light up a cigarette while filling their car with gas that will have problems with oxygen...  I guess they're just eager to get to the bottom of the gene pool.

Batch,

Thanks for your thoughts.  I understand where you're coming from, but being a pilot, your idea of "common sense" about handling O2 is biased.  That sense is not all that common.  You've been well trained in the hazards, and so have astronauts, welders, some medical professionals, and a few other specialized folks.

Sure, the folks who light up a cigarette while filling their car with gas are scrubbing themselves from the bottom of the gene pool, but among the population at large, there is no such thing as "common sense when using oxygen therapy".  I'd bet you a dollar to a beignet that not three people out of a hundred would ever dream that reaching to adjust an oxygen regulator with a little oil on your hand could result in the horrific injury that the welder in the safety bulletin received.

Yes, there is safety info about oxygen in the user's guide, and the link to the "Man from LOX" that you referenced, but how many of the CH'ers, particularly newbies, have read all that stuff?  In a couple of years on this site, I have seen hundreds of "get oxygen" posts, but no more than a couple that really urged anyone to learn what they're doing, and be careful with it.  I have never seen a post cautioning against allowing O2 to come into contact with oil, or other organics.  The injury in the safety bulletin could easily have happened to 9 out of 10 of the O2 users on this board, because they were simply unaware that it might.

No one can tell me with a straight face that the risks have been adequately addressed here.  I'd just like for us to look out for one another.

Regards,
Jim

Jim,

I want to thank you for posting the link to NFPA info.  I found it very informative and agree that not enough is done here to caution Oxygen users on the potential hazards involved in Oxygen therapy.  However the whole point of the study was to raise awareness of the fact that there is no agreement on how to regulate the home use of medical oxygen.  It is unreasonable to assume that CH.com can solve this problem.

What I worry about is the fine line between a healthy, informed caution and paranoia which would keep folks from taking advantage of a very effective form of therapy.

Very few people will take the time to read through and understand the info in the link you provided.  To post that in its entirety would probably scare off more than a few.  I don't think that is what any of us would want.

The most relevant part of the document (to me) is quoted here...


Quote:

Figure 3 shows that smoking materials were involved in 73% of the medical oxygen related burns. <snip> Stoves or ovens were involved in 10% and candles in 9%. Two percent were burned while lighting gas grills. Another two percent of the burns occurred when the victims were using grinding equipment.

I'd be willing to include the info above in my posts in support of Oxygen therapy...


Quote:

Oxygen does need to be used safely.  Folks who ignore this do so at their own risk.  A recent study documented that smoking materials were involved in 73% of medical oxygen related burns. Stoves or ovens were involved in 10% and candles in 9%. Two percent were burned while lighting gas grills. Another two percent of the burns occurred when the victims were using grinding equipment. So Oxygen therapy should never be used around an open heat source.

-Dennis-

Good point!

Notice I changed my signature line ...

Chuck

My O2 company went over the safety guidelines when they first delivered the O2. They also mentioned the danger of grease and oil. I have separate regulators, so they told me not to touch the part that goes   into the cylinder, for humans always have some level of grease on their hands.
So I think it is the job of the suppliers to inform you properly, and tell you about safety guidelines.

Lottie

Jim,

There's no such thing as enough safety in anything we do and in particular oxygen safety.  You've got an excellent post going with great responses.

You're right, with 3000 hours flight time in Navy fighters, I've had a lot of training in oxygen safety, weapons/ordnance safety, flight safety...  In fact, every mission brief contained safety questions requiring responses with the appropriate safety procedure.  

It was routine to sit in a Martin-Baker Ejection seat containing the equivalent explosive force of a half stick of dynamite, in a jet with 2,000 gallons of JP-5 jet fuel, 5 liters of LOX, 2,000 lbs of high explosive ordnance hanging under the wings, and 400 rounds of high explosive incendiary 20MM cannon rounds only a few feet from my back side.  On top of that, there was usually 20 feet of fire shooting out of the engine at takeoff...  And while all this was going on, I was breathing 100% oxygen...  

Oxygen is a very powerful oxidizer that will make any combustible burn at explosive rates and at extremely high temperatures.  Hair and just about any kind of loosely weaved fabric make excellent fuel for flash fires when saturated with 100% oxygen...  Oxygen will even cause aluminum and steel to burn but the kindling temperature is a bit high...

That's only part of the oxygen safety awareness folks need to know about.  The 2250 to 2500 psi pressure in our oxygen cylinders can turn them into rockets it the valve is knocked off. I've seen a welder's cylinder fall into a dry dock and come screaming out like a rocket.

I've also commented on folks trying to breathe oxygen straight from the valve because they didn't have a regulator as being very dangerous.  A stream of high pressure gas directed against the skin can actually penetrate the skin causing all kinds of problems including gas embolism.

One of the biggest problems we all face is complacency.  We get so used to walking up to our oxygen breathing systems and turn them on we're unaware of the actual dangers involved in its use.  In short, we rarely think about oxygen safety...   A little oxygen safety sign or tag hanging from your regulator would help...

Making sure the cylinder is properly secured to keep it from falling over, the regulator is installed properly, functioning properly, and the face mask is clean are all very important items on a safety check list...  

We used to clean our oxygen face masks prior to every flight to make sure they were free of any facial oil...   I would venture there are very few cluster headache sufferers who perform this essential maintenance action on a routine basis...

Good on you for bringing up oxygen safety!

Take care.

V/R, Batch

This is a great post!!

Batch is right, you can never be too safe when dealing with 02.  My hubby works with it and was not too thrilled when I told him that I was going to start using it at home for ch.  I got a lecture on 02 saturation, about not lighting up a cigarette too soon afterwards, about there being no open flames, or even heat sources near the tank, etc.....you get the picture.

I believe one of the reasons he was so freaked out about the 02 was the fact he personally knew someone who was in an 02 flash fire.  this person was on 02 24/7 and went so far as to have all gas appliances removed from his home and replaced with electric.  One day while cooking something, there must have been a spark from the electric stove and he was burned badly.  The inside of his lungs were seared.  Even with all the precautions he took, he still was injured.

Better to be overly cautious.

Beth

BTW....I like your new tag line Chuck. :)

Batch wrote on Apr 28^th, 2009 at 2:06pm:

...One of the biggest problems we all face is complacency.  We get so used to walking up to our oxygen breathing systems and turn them on we're unaware of the actual dangers involved in its use.  In short, we rarely think about oxygen safety... ...We used to clean our oxygen face masks prior to every flight to make sure they were free of any facial oil...   I would venture there are very few cluster headache sufferers who perform this essential maintenance action on a routine basis...

Pete,

Thanks again for posting.  You've summarized a lot of my concerns as well or better than I could.

The 'No Smoking' rule around oxygen does sort of seem like "common sense", but I have seen a couple of posts that made me wonder.  Someone wrote that you should wait "a couple minutes" after using O2 before smoking.  That is not nearly long enough!  The NFPA says no one should ever smoke in a home where medical oxygen is used, period.  Some time ago, when O2 safety was brought up, a poster asked, "Who ever heard of medical oxygen causing a house fire???"  I have, and that's why I posted the NFPA link - to show that this is a real concern and not "paranoia".  Almost 1200 house fires a year is not trivial!

What really caused me to start this thread, though, was the issue of spontaneous ignition of oils & other flammables in the presence of pure O2, like what happened to the welder in the safety bulletin.  I had a mental picture of one of the wonderful women on this site, or maybe Chuck, putting on cold cream, or some sort of facial mask, or whatever for the night, or maybe lipstick & makeup for a night out, then having a CH attack, reaching for the O2, and suddenly suffering a tragic injury.  All because she didn't know any better.  Well informed is well armed.

Thanks again for contributing!

Regards,
Jim

And thank you for posting this thread!  8-)
As you said, well informed is well armed.