DuPontâ„¢ NOMEX® helps reduce burn injuries at chemical plant

The use of heat and flame protective clothing made of DuPontâ„¢ NOMEX® has helped to dramatically reduce the rate of accidental burn injuries over a four year period at a large chemical plant in South-West Germany. Up until 2003, each year between 20 and 25 accidents involving burns or scalds to arms and upper body areas had affected employees at the Degussa plant of Rohm GmbH, Worms, SW Germany. The introduction of a new safety campaign that included procurement of new protective clothing made of NOMEX® fibre has led to a reduction in accidents of 75%.

At its Degussa plant, Rohm employs around 1,000 people in the production of preliminary products used to make Plexiglas® and numerous methacrylate-based primary and auxiliary products for a wide range of plastics applications. Here, chemicals handled include substances such as acetone, hydrocyanic acid, ammonia, acetone-cyanhydrin, peroxide and sulphur trioxide.

Safety is a core element of company policy
The safety precautions for operating equipment and protecting employees are accordingly high. In addition to safety meetings that are held at least every month, an extensive, automated, computer-aided production process aims to achieve maximum safety and product efficiency, special monitoring systems are in place to detect even the slightest deviation from normal equipment operation, one in ten employees is a qualified safety officer (a quota ten times higher than the statutory requirement), and a great deal has been invested in staff and visitor training initiatives.

Andreas Strassner, one of the full-time safety specialists at the plant explained, "Despite all the plant-specific safety precautions that are in place, we have to be aware that many of the substances handled here on site are highly flammable, oxidising, poisonous or caustic. Any little mistake when filling a tank, or when connecting/disconnecting a supply line can have serious consequences. Even routine tasks such as maintaining pipe connections and flanged joints are potentially dangerous. Although these pipelines are disconnected from running production beforehand, over a longer period there is a risk of being burnt or scalded."

Before the introduction of protective clothing made of NOMEX®, burns and scalds mostly affected the arms and upper body as these are generally the areas that come into contact with hot connection components or are unexpectedly exposed to hot steam. Andreas continued, "Some of the accidents were classified as serious, not only causing suffering for the injured person, but also entailing follow-up costs for rehabilitation measures. To minimise accident numbers as much as possible and to better protect workers against these hazards, new protective clothing was procured in 2003, as part of the company's "zero accident" objective.

NOMEX® Comfort offers built-in heat protection and permanent antistatic properties
In addition to excellent flame and heat protection, the clothing needed to provide permanent antistatic properties because of its use in explosion protection zones. The equipment also needed to be lightweight and comfortable to wear, offering the wearer considerable freedom of movement. Thanks to its composition of 93% NOMEX®, 5% KEVLAR® and 2% antistatic fibres, fabric made of NOMEX® Comfort offered the required performance characteristics without the need for chemical treatment. The addition of KEVLAR® to the fibre blend makes the fabric significantly more resistant to breaking up, as the fabric remains intact longer and offers great protection, even when exposed to intense heat or fire. The antistatic fibres (carbon fibres coated in polyamide) prevent the clothing from becoming statically charged.

The protective equipment comprises a jacket combined with either coverall or trousers. Thanks to its low basis weight of 265g/sq.m, the clothing is light in weight, and is practically as comfortable to wear as normal working clothes. In addition to the permanent flame-resistant and anti-static properties, the clothing also offers excellent thermal insulation. If a fluorocarbon treatment is applied, it further offers limited splash protection against acids and alkalis (Type 6) in accordance with EN 13034.

Video evidence
The introduction of the protective clothing was accompanied by viewing of a video that demonstrated flame tests of the clothing on the DuPontâ„¢ Thermo-man® system. The video reveals the performance of the new protective suits in comparison with the previously used cotton clothing. After exposure to flames for four seconds during the flame tests, the garment made of NOMEX® yielded 23% burns (11% second degree and 12% third degree) whereas the cotton clothing in mint condition yielded a total of 81% burns (15% second degree and 66% third degree). "The video made it strikingly obvious that the new clothing offers much better protection," Andreas summed up.

In 2006, as a further motivational measure, 80 in-house training sessions on "changing behaviour" were carried out at Rohm and 40 facilitators were given training at special occupational health and safety days, at which they could further enhance their specialist knowledge in order to pass it on to their colleagues. According to Andreas, the results of an in-house assessment show that "implementing a safety strategy and using modern protective equipment are all the more effective when employees are also able to take comprehensive information on board." According to the plant management, the improvements confirm that a "zero accident" policy is a realistic company objective.