Pressure, Steam, and Electricity Hazards

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• CHAPTER 7 Hazards of Pressure, Steam, and Electricity
• Learning Objectives


  • Upon completion of this chapter the student should be able to:
  • List four types of hazards associated with high-pressure systems
  • Describe two ways boilers are protected from over pressurization
  • Describe four ways to detect gas leaks
  • Describe four electrical hazards
  • Explain the difference between bonding and grounding
  • Explain how equipment is made explosion proof
• On April 27, 1865, the side-wheeler steamer Sultana, overloaded and carrying more passengers than it should, steamed up the Mississippi River. The Sultana carried more than 2,000 Union soldiers, many bound for home after being released from Confederate prison camps. Quick repairs had been made to the vessel's boilers at Memphis. A few miles north of Memphis, the boilers blew up and tore the Sultana apart, hurling men and parts of the vessels hundreds of feet. An estimated 1,700 soldiers died either from the explosion or from drowning. The pressures at which the Sultana's boiler normally operated, and even the pressure at which it ruptured so violently, would be considered low compared with boiler pressures commonly used today.
• It is not necessary to have much pressure to create conditions where serious injuries and damage can occur. It is commonly and mistakenly believed that injury and damage will result only from high pressures, however, there is no agreement on the definition of the term high pressure beyond the fact that it is greater than normal atmospheric pressure.