BS 5908-2:2012

This standard BS 5908-2:2012 Fire and explosion precautions at premises handling flammable gases, liquids and dusts is classified in these ICS categories:

• 13.220.20 Fire protection
• 71.020 Production in the chemical industry

This part of BS 5908 gives guidance on the legislation and standards applicable to onshore industrial premises that handle significant quantities of flammable gases, liquids or dusts. It identifies the different strands of legislation that apply to those who supply, transport, store, or use such materials, and those who supply plant and equipment for any of these activities, and provides a guide to relevant standards so that suppliers and users of products that create fire and explosion hazards can identify which might be relevant to their activities.

This part of BS 5908 does not cover offshore oil and gas production or coal or other mining activities, and only references legislation and standards relevant to the distribution and supply of natural gas where these are also relevant to other activities.

Legislation and standards relevant to the storage and use of liquid fuels and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) are, however, covered, as in many cases these are also relevant to chemicals with similar hazards which are not specifically used as fuels.

The development of a hydrogen economy, with hydrogen either stored at very high pressure or in liquid form, is at an early stage of development, and this area is also out of scope of this British Standard.

NOTE There is, though, considerable activity within ISO in developing standards on hydrogen applications.

Chemical processes might create fire and explosion hazards that are different from those arising from the chemicals used in the process. The methods associated with assessing those hazards are not in general suitable for standardization as they are too specific to the individual process. The issue of chemical reaction hazards is considered in BS 5908‑1.

Some flammable liquids used in pressurized systems, such as hydraulic oils, can form flammable mists from small leaks in hosing or pipework. This scenario is covered in the discussion of the legislation and standards applicable to this situation.