The night of Dec 2, 1984 will remain etched as the worst industrial disaster that killed thousands of people. The Union Carbide plant manufacturing pesticides in Bhopal, India developed a gas leak that allowed poisonous gas called methyl isocyanate to escape into the atmosphere. Apart from the death of an estimated 3,787 people over 500,000 people, received injuries and the effects of the toxic gas felt even after three decades. An investigation revealed that gas detectors had failed to sound the alarm.
This is just one example of gas detection failure. Industrial manufacturing processes involve the formation of gases and toxic substances. Safety standards are the dominant feature of any industrial plant. The first line of defense is detection. Gas generators and gas measuring instruments equipped with permeation devices and electronic sensors provide measurements indicating concentrations of gas, vapors and other substances. It is imperative that these instruments always perform at any given time. There is no off day of work; to ensure that the instruments are working efficiently they require regular calibration. Calibration gas is a specialized industry that provides the instrument manufacturers and users with calibration gases that allow testing the devices. Calibration gas standard is a comparison of the analysis against traceable standards established by the NIST(National Institute of Standards and Technology).
The standards are complex, which means that the calibration gas supplier has to provide laboratory grade gas (pure and uncontaminated). Calibration gas suppliers adhere to these standards for an error on their part can lead to horrific loss of life (like the Bhopal gas disaster)and prove very expensive. The example of Volkswagen (VW) paying a heavy price towards falsifying emission reports in their automobiles is classic. The scandal became obvious when the emission figures reported by Volkswagen did not conform to the traceable standards. The cars tested by EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) emitted nitrogen oxide nearly 40 times the standard permitted level. The price VW has to pay is a whopping $15 billion leading to the question; can VW survive?
This is just one example of gas detection failure. Industrial manufacturing processes involve the formation of gases and toxic substances. Safety standards are the dominant feature of any industrial plant. The first line of defense is detection. Gas generators and gas measuring instruments equipped with permeation devices and electronic sensors provide measurements indicating concentrations of gas, vapors and other substances. It is imperative that these instruments always perform at any given time. There is no off day of work; to ensure that the instruments are working efficiently they require regular calibration. Calibration gas is a specialized industry that provides the instrument manufacturers and users with calibration gases that allow testing the devices. Calibration gas standard is a comparison of the analysis against traceable standards established by the NIST(National Institute of Standards and Technology).
The standards are complex, which means that the calibration gas supplier has to provide laboratory grade gas (pure and uncontaminated). Calibration gas suppliers adhere to these standards for an error on their part can lead to horrific loss of life (like the Bhopal gas disaster)and prove very expensive. The example of Volkswagen (VW) paying a heavy price towards falsifying emission reports in their automobiles is classic. The scandal became obvious when the emission figures reported by Volkswagen did not conform to the traceable standards. The cars tested by EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) emitted nitrogen oxide nearly 40 times the standard permitted level. The price VW has to pay is a whopping $15 billion leading to the question; can VW survive?