Chemical cabinet: fire-resistant safety cabinets for hazardous substances PGS 15
Do you have all the chemical substances in alphabetical order in your chemical cabinet? Before you know it, there are two hazardous substances next to each other. And what happens to the hazardous substances in the event of a fire? Choose a fire-resistant safety cabinet that complies with the PGS 15 guideline for the storage of packaged hazardous substances and that is built in accordance with the latest NEN-EN-14470-1 standard for fire-resistant safety cabinets. In this article we explain why.
Chemical cabinet
A chemical cabinet is used for the storage of chemicals and other hazardous substances in, for example, universities, industry and research institutions. This often concerns laboratories and working environments where a safety cabinet must be installed to store chemicals or biological samples. That is why our cabinets can easily be placed in almost any room and are available in different sizes for practical positioning. A good practical example is the chemical cabinet that is placed under a laminar flow cabinet for efficient use of space.
But what requirements must a chemical cabinet meet? Fortunately, there are two clear guidelines/standards that tell us exactly what your chemical cabinet must comply with: PGS 15 and NEN-EN-14470-1.
PGS 15 cabinet
PGS 15 is the guideline for storage and temporary storage with regard to fire safety, occupational safety and environmental friendliness and is aimed especially at companies that work with hazardous substances. 'Working with' refers to the production as well as the transport, storage or use of these substances. In determining the requirements, the directive makes a distinction, for example, between the amount of hazardous substances that are used in order to achieve an 'acceptable level of protection for people and the environment'.
The full guideline can be found here.
NEN-EN-14470-1 for fire-resistant safety cabinets
Fire-resistant safety cabinets that are put into use after 1 January 2006 must comply with the NEN-EN-14470-1 standard for fire safety storage cabinets. This standard replaces the old NEN 2678 standard because the test results from the different combustion chambers in Europe differed. Due to the new standard, all tests can be performed in the same way, so as a buyer you know for sure what you are getting. Want to know everything about this standard? Then read our article about the NEN-EN-14470-1 standard for fire-resistant safety cabinets.
Choosing the best safety cabinet
What is the best safety cabinet? We can only answer this question if we know your situation. Starting with the fire resistance of the cabinet, how long should the safety cabinet be able to last? In practice there is little difference between the costs for a 60-minute and a 90-minute fire-resistant cabinet, which is why Laser2000 has chosen to include the highest level (90 minutes fire-resistant) in its program. There are also various options that can be used to equip a safety cabinet.
For example, drip trays for material separation are a necessary practical facility if you work with hazardous substances that must not come into contact with each other. The same option is available for the extraction of harmful gases (EM-33) in the form of an extraction module with different filter options. Both can be installed in all safety cabinets.
Lab Companion manufactures a complete range of safety cabinets for laboratories and other environments where hazardous substances are used. Although in this article we focus on the fire-resistant safety cabinets, we would like to emphasize that Laser 2000 is also capable of building other safety cabinets, such as lockable cabinets for corrosive substances and oxygen/moisture-free glove boxes.
Would you like to know everything about the properties and options of our fire-resistant safety cabinets? Then read our article Buying a hazardous material cabinet.
Buying and installing a chemical cabinet
You probably still have a number of questions after reading our articles and the available product information. How is the cabinet delivered and installed, for example? And can it be used in combination with other laboratory products? Laser 2000 is happy to provide you with complete information and is happy to answer any questions you may have. Contact our specialist Svante van der Rijst via +31-297-266191 or svante@laser2000.nl and he will be happy to help you.
