Sometimes, the electrician or electrical crew is the enforcer for rules covering what other people do with combustibles. For example, when cardboard boxes are stacked to within an inch of bus bar or file boxes are stored in an electrical closet. In other cases, the electricians are responsible for their own actions with combustibles. How you store them is one area of concern. Follow these best practices:
- Always observe the egress path. Simply not blocking it isn’t sufficient. Because this path is a fire escape route, you don’t want to line either side of it with combustibles.
- Always observe the sprinkler dousing pattern. Stack combustibles well within the “cone” and don’t block the water from hitting items that need protection.
- Store combustibles away from energy sources. Sure, you know not to store them in equipment vaults, but there are other energy sources. Space heaters, hot process piping, and any power distribution equipment, for example.
- Don’t stack combustibles near production equipment. Why not? Operators will probably move it near electrical equipment.