What Does
Corrosive Storage Cabinet Mean?
A corrosive storage cabinet is a cabinet used for storing containers of chemical substances with corrosive properties. By convention, these cabinets are colored blue to indicate at a glance that they hold corrosive substances.
Corrosive cabinets are used when the amount of corrosive substances present in a workplace is not large or hazardous enough to require a separate storage building. They are either made entirely out of non-corrosive materials (e.g. plastics, wood laminate), or—if the cabinet must be fire-resistant—they are made with a metal covered in a corrosion-resistant coating.
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Safeopedia Explains Corrosive Storage Cabinet
On the inside, they typically hold non-corrosive polyurethane trays that have the capacity to contain a significant amount of chemical spillage should a container break. In addition to acting as a safe method of storing corrosives, corrosive cabinets also provide a means of separating incompatible chemicals (such as strong acids and bases) that might react in a hazardous manner if contact between the two chemicals were to occur.
In workplaces that handle corrosive chemicals, the use of corrosive storage cabinets is a legal requirement. Corrosives pose a significant hazard both because they are often incompatible with other chemicals and because they can degrade or otherwise breach some containers they are held in, resulting in spills.
Standards and Regulations
In the United States, OSHA 1910.1450 requires the use of corrosion-resistant secondary containment to prevent corrosive chemicals from interacting with incompatible substances. The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) also proscribes the use of fire-protection cabinets for the purpose of storing materials such as corrosives, which can reduce their effectiveness.
Some jurisdictions, including sub-national U.S. jurisdictions such as California, also require safety cabinets to have self-closing doors in order to be deemed compliant. This requirement typically stems from fire codes, such as NFPA Code 1 or the International Fire Code.
Corrosive storage cabinets are commonly used as an element of workplace hazard communication. Corrosive storage cabinets must be marked with visible signage advising of their contents, and having a separate sequestered space for these chemicals reduces the chance of a dangerous interaction that might occur if the chemicals were stored in improper proximity to each other.