A Review of Anhydrous Ammonia and our SDS Sheets

Warehouse and Operations as a Career

Anhydrous Ammonia, anyone know what that is? I’m Marty T Hawkins with Warehouse and Operations as a Career and we appreciate you checking in with us! My apologies, I’m a bit horse today but let’s have some fun anyway! I brought up the words Anhydrous Ammonia a few weeks ago and had gotten a few questions about it so lets look it up today! Merriam Webster tells us that Anhydrous means free from water. And they explain that Ammonia is a pungent colorless gaseous alkaline compound of nitrogen and hydrogen NH3 that is very soluble in water and can easily be condensed to a liquid by cold and pressure. So, looking up Anhydrous Ammonia we learn it is ammonia in its pure form that contains no water. https://www.cdc.gov/healthcommunication/toolstemplates/entertainmented/tips/AnhydrousAmmonia.html we learn Anhydrous ammonia, a colorless gas with pungent, suffocating fumes, is used as an agricultural fertilizer and industrial refrigerant.

When handled improperly, anhydrous ammonia can be immediately dangerous to life or health. As liquid anhydrous ammonia is released from its container into the air, it expands rapidly, forming a large cloud that acts like a heavier-than-air gas for a period of time. Because the vapors hug the ground initially, the chances for humans to be exposed are greater than with other gases. Symptoms of anhydrous ammonia exposure include:

eye, nose, and throat irritation

breathing difficulty, wheezing, or chest pain

pulmonary edema, pink frothy sputum

burns, blisters and frostbite.

Exposure can be fatal at high concentrations.

My experience with it has been in foodservice distribution facilities. Your larger broadline’s and concept distribution centers may use it for their refrigeration systems for their cooler and freezer vaults. If you’ve ever visited one of them upon signing in at the lobby, they’ll usually have you sign in and give you a sheet that explains that they have anhydrous ammonia on the premises and describes their evacuation procedures. Of course, it’s safe when used properly, just one of the many things in our industry that we need to treat with respect though. I’ve had two run ins with it across my career, once a facility I was working in had been doing some work on one of the units up on the front cooler dock and there was a small leak when bringing the unit back on line. After being allowed back in the building we had to clear all the product off the dock, actually ended up throwing it away, really just with an abundance of caution. Ended up being only that pungent smell that triggered its disposal, it was determined that there was not really a leak but some of the gas left in a closed off pipe. We had a plan, and everyone knew it so we’d have all been safe if there had actually been a leak! A few years later I was asked to go to a sister company and help them clean up after they had an actual issue with it. A forklift driver had hit one of the pressured ammonia lines which triggered an evacuation. It was an actual release or spill and all the product had to be removed and properly destroyed. It was quite the expensive mess.

Anyway, when working at a facility that uses it for their refrigeration you’ll be briefed or taught a lot about it and learn how to evacuate and stay away from it once outside. Ever see one of those wind socks out front or on the corners of a building? There located in positions of site, so you know which way the winds blowing and you don’t run into the gas while exiting. Again, very dangerous stuff but like every other tool in our industry, treat it with respect, know how to handle it safely and adhere to all your safety procedures and it is safe and efficient to use.

So, talking about all this makes me think of our HazCom or Hazardous Communication training. We all remember the hazcom talks at our facilities, right? Hazard communication, also known as HazCom, is a set of processes and procedures that employers and importers must implement in the workplace to communicate any hazards that are associated with chemicals during handling, storing and the shipping of and any kind of exposure we could run into. https://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/HCSFactsheet.html has a really good fact sheet, and I’ll add the link in todays show notes, you ought to check it out, I’m pretty sure you’ll find it interesting! I won’t read the whole thing to you but I would like to hit on a couple of the high points real quick. I think the first paragraph of the standard wrap’s it up pretty well. It states “New changes to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Hazard Communication Standard are bringing the United States into alignment with the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), further improving safety and health protections for America’s workers. Building on the success of OSHA’s current Hazard Communication Standard, the GHS is expected to prevent injuries and illnesses, save lives and improve trade conditions for chemical manufacturers. An I think this next sentence spells it out for us as employees. The Hazard Communication Standard in 1983 gave the workers the ‘right to know,’ but the new Globally Harmonized System gives workers the ‘right to understand.’” The four major changes were:

• Hazard classification: Chemical manufacturers and importers are required to determine the hazards of the chemicals they produce or import. Hazard classification under the new, updated standard provides specific criteria to address health and physical hazards as well as classification of chemical mixtures.
• Labels: Chemical manufacturers and importers must provide a label that includes a signal word, pictogram, hazard statement, and precautionary statement for each hazard class and category.
• Safety Data Sheets: The new format requires 16 specific sections, ensuring consistency in presentation of important protection information.
• Information and training: To facilitate understanding of the new system, the new standard requires that workers be trained by December 1, 2013 on the new label elements and safety data sheet format, in addition to the current training requirements.

Again, this is a pretty informative read, pull it up if you have a moment and check it out!

https://www.red-on-line.com/our-core-activities-chemical-hazardous-materials-classification-of-chemicals-employers-guide-to-oshas-hazard-communication-standard/ is another good site I found on the subject too.

I liked this site as it breaks the wording down into something us as employees & employers can understand. For todays discussion I’d like to talk a little more about the Safety Data Sheets.

As we know, or I hope we all know, we have to know where the SDS stations or books are kept at our facility. I feel it’s our responsibility to even ask if no one has shown them to us. It should be part of our orientation, but if it’s not, ask, and please know how to use them and be able to understand what your looking at or looking for. As we’ve learned every chemical in our building should have an SDS sheet. Many of you may still be calling the an MSDS sheet, and that’s ok, there the same thing these days, but SDS or Safety Data Sheet is the proper name for them now. Anyway, understand them please!

So, the SDS sheet is broken down into 16 Sections:

Section 1 is Identification or what it is, name, product type SDS number and usually the supplier’s details

Section 2 gives us the products OSHA status, its classification, GHS labels and hazards statements and storage and disposal information

Section 3 Composition and information on ingredients

Section 4, this is an important one to us, or 1 of two sections that I always talk too. I feel we need to understand sections 4 & 8 for every chemical in our buildings. So, section 4 explains all the first aid measures to us and how to handle any exposures. That’s an important one ladies and gentlemen.

Section 5 discusses Fire Fighting measures

Section 6 explains Accidental release measures

Section 7 talks about the handling and storage of the product

And section 8, remember, this is an important one to us covers Exposure controls and personal protection!

Section 9 lists the Physical and chemical properties

Section 10 talks to the chemicals Stability and reactivity

Section 11 Toxicological information

Section 12 is the Ecological Information

And section 13, I think we should look at it too when we’re just looking up a chemical, it’s on Disposal considerations.

Section 14 Transport Information, it gives us the DOT and TDG classifications and any transport hazard classes

Section 15 list its regulatory information

And Section 16 is for Other Information

Our employers must make these sheets readily available to its employees and we as associates have a responsibility to know where there located and how to use them. If you have any questions, please go ask your management. It maybe you or a peer that needs them sometime.

Well, we’re out of time again, I want to thank you for checking in with WAOC today and urge you to send us an email to [e-mail] if you have any comments or topic suggestions! If you are finding any value with the Podcast please share it with a friend and ask them to subscribe on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, iTunes or really just about any podcatcher out there. Until next week, be Safe out there & if you don’t know where your SDS books are kept, please go in tomorrow and find out!