WORK WEAR.

If you work in the oil and gas field or any other associated work place where there is always a flammable atmosphere {ZONE ZERO} like oil depot, petrol station, gas dispensing company and dusty particulate area you may need to read this.

The material used for the production of your cloth is key to your safety, most especially during this harmattan period. Wearing fabrics made of materials other than Nomex and Kevlar can jeopardize your safety. For instance, fibers like those of wool and silk easily lose their moisture content and become charged to the point of igniting fire in a Zone Zero atmosphere like those mentioned above.

Most employers in Nigeria provide coverall made of cotton material which is just a little better than wool and silk. In the harmattan, the moisture retaining properties of cotton is reduced by the weather getting it easily charged up. Wearing charged fabric in an already charged atmosphere is a recipe for fire and explosion.

WHAT IS THE WAY OUT OF THIS DANGER?

The best thing to do as an employer of labour who cares about the life and welfare of his/her employees and also about his/her investment and meeting up with local and international statutory requirement is to provide for all the workers a NOMEX COVERALL. The Nomex Fibre is a registered trademark for flame-resistant meta-aramid material developed by DU-POINT in early 1960. It has excellent thermal, chemical, and radiation resistance.

When you think of Nomex, you probably think of firefighter apparel. But the inherent protection of Nomex is relied on by people and processes in a wide range of applications around the world.

In addition to the more than three million firefighters worldwide who are protected by apparel made with Nomex, there are millions of other people around the globe, including military personnel, police officers, auto racing teams and industrial workers, who rely on the inherent heat and flame resistant properties and durability of Nomex fiber to help keep them safe from the everyday hazards they face on the job.

Nomex also plays a critical role in helping to protect and improve the performance of a wide variety of things that are essential to our way of life, such as mass transit vehicles, wind turbine systems, aircraft components, electrical transformers and automotive components.

If your employer has provided cotton made coverall for you as your work wear, never despair there is a way out. You can maintain the property of your cotton fabric by giving it a special treatment while washing. All you need do is to wash your dirty coverall or a new coverall with a detergent of your choice but do not completely rinse out the detergent after washing. Allow some of the detergent remain on the fabric before drying, this treatment will allow the cotton fabric coverall to retain its moisture content during use thereby producing little or no charging.

USMAN HAMMED {IDIPNEBOSH, GIFireE, ANISP}

TEXTILE TECHNOLOGIST ! FIRE SAFETY EXPERT/INSTRUCTOR !

HEALTH AND SAFETY PROFFESIONAL !

FIRST AID INSTRUCTOR ! EMERGENCY RESPONDER !

08098558872.

Facebook- firefighters Nigeria, Hammed Usman

Twitter- @hamshol