Flammable Storage Cabinets — Safe Storage for Your Flammable Chemicals

Are you storing paints, inks, acids, corrosives, or pesticides at your facility.  Those are all flammable. Fortunately, flammable storage cabinets will help keep them safe.

There are different kinds of flammable liquids.  What they all have in common, however, is that they can be very hazardous to the fiscal health of your company. They can make people sick, and they also put the safety of your entire facility at risk.  After all, most industrial fires are caused by improperly stored flammable chemicals.

Luckily, storing your flammables appropriately is not all that difficult.  A huge range of flammable storage cabinets is available to help you.  The biggest problem is to figure out which ones to choose.

Focus on quality

Quality should be among your first selection criteria.  No matter how perfect the cabinet is in other ways, if it doesn’t meet OSHA and NFPA standards and specifications, it’s worthless.

Choose the right type

Different chemicals require different types of flammable storage cabinets.  First of all, there are really two types of flammable chemicals — those that you can store in steel cabinets, and those that must be stored in polyethylene cabinets.

For fire safety reasons, it would be helpful if we could simply store all flammable liquids in steel cabinets because steel holds up in fire.  Unfortunately, that won’t work for all chemicals because certain flammable liquids are highly corrosive and will eat right through the steel and thus pose a big danger of leakage.  Examples of those include aggressive acids and pesticides.

Pick the right size

Make sure your flammable storage cabinets are big enough to ensure they can hold all your flammable liquids. Then again, you don’t want to go overboard since cabinets can take up a lot of space and are also more expensive as they get bigger. So buy what you need without overbuying.

Insist on Safety Features

If you shop with a reputable dealer and insist on EPA and NFPA certification, you’re pretty much assured to get the safety features you need.  Just to name a few, look for quality construction, double walls and doors with air space between the two sections, adjustable shelves, vents with threaded fittings and the usual fire baffle and cap.

And remember, just because you have flammable storage cabinets, don’t skimp on absorbents either. If you do have a spill, you’ll need to be able to clean it up promptly.