Transport Hazardous Materials through Atrium?

7/4/2019

Our University is currently in design of an Applied Research Center which is configured as two lineal building bars separated by an atrium space. One bar will house our shipping and receiving area for chemicals, flammables, and hazardous waste storage. The other building bar will contain the majority of wet and dry labs for research.

The only pathway for transport of these chemicals, flammables and hazardous waste is designed to occur through the atrium space. Also, the only way to transport these items to second floor labs is by a passenger elevator located in the atrium. I can find no references in NFPA that prohibits utilizing the atrium for transporting these items.

Does anyone have any information on whether this process is acceptable or not? Thank you!

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3 Comments

Ron Pierce

7/5/2019 06:53:33 am

As the safety and risk manager for our university, I have spent some time browsing relevant NFPA references for similar scenarios. As far as I can tell, you can transport a nuclear bomb through that atrium as long as applicable SAFE HANDLING procedures are followed. Some factors to consider will be occupancy load factors for the actual laboratories (much less dense for wet labs), sprinkling requirements, emergency eye and full body wash stations, and fire extinguisher locations. Our chem labs have products delivered (via mail sometimes!) to our warehouse and then transported by various methods to their building's halls and elevators. Your atrium is just another "entry" and not necessarily considered a unique area.

7/5/2019 08:25:29 am

I agree with Ron's assessment. NFPA is much more concerned with storage, use, and loading/unloading operations that are more likley to be dangerous. As long as appropriate equipment and procedures are being used, there is apparently no concern about the path of travel.
A couple of caveats:
1) Refer to NFPA 30 Chapter 18 for some minor restrictions that may be applicable to "handling" of flammable liquids. In particular 18.4.2 and 18.5.4.1,
2) Depending on the types of containers and types of material, there may be ventilation requirements. This would also apply if there is any transfer between containers. These would be general requirements (not specific to an atrium) but would have to be implemented for the entire atrium space, which could be prohibitively expensive.

Wayne Ammons

7/5/2019 08:09:36 pm

My thoughts immediately went to transient storage in a warehouse situation. Loading docks and, in some instances, the first column bay of a storage warehouse is designed for ordinary hazard group 2 because the product is only kept there temporarily for staging while the high hazard storage area is designed for long term storage. As always, consult with your AHJ.

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