Page 77 - Occupational Health & Safety, July 2018

In the last few years, nine automobile companies have begun to build and sell hydrogen-fueled cars. Consumers now have the responsibility of handling hydrogen when fueling their vehicles.
The refueling process for hydrogen powered forklifts takes only 2 minutes, compared to a 15-minute battery charge, and the hydrogen forklift will operate a peak speeds as long as there is fuel, where a battery-operated forklift will wind down as it depletes its charge. Hydrogen forklifts also can operate in freezing temperatures without the worry of battery degradation.
In the last few years, nine automobile companies have begun to build and sell hydrogen-fueled cars. Consumers now have the responsibility of handling hydrogen when fueling their vehicles. Even though
compound to produce hydrogen gas. Hydrogen gas is 14 times lighter than air and rises at a rate of about 20 m/s. It is a category 1 flammable gas and has a flam- mable range of 4% to 75% by volume in air. “If used outside or with good ventilation it will rise at a rate that is 6 times faster than natural gas making it safer to use than most other flammables.”2 Hydrogen is odorless, colorless, and tasteless, so it is undetectable when present. It burns with an invisible flame and is extremely dangerous to work around without the aid of hydrogen gas detectors, heat sensors, and other means of
identifying leaks and fire.
Hydrogen History
The most recognized use of hydrogen happened in 1961, when President John F. Kennedy launched his support for the space program and the Apollo was built. Since then, NASA has used hydrogen in its space shuttle program with benefits in the use of the fuel as a propellant. Once hydrogen fuel propelled the shuttle into space, the shuttle’s fuel cells used hydro- gen to produce electricity for the shuttle’s energy requirements. The two byproducts from the chemical reaction in the fuel cells are water, which the astronauts drink, and heat, which is used to keep the shuttle envi- ronment warm.
On Jan. 28, 2003, President George W. Bush recognized the advancements in hy- drogen fuel cell technology and gave his support for it in his State of the Union Ad- dress to Congress. He understood its value in reducing our dependence on oil and transitioning to a cleaner, more secure hy- drogen energy future. This has since yielded a variety of advancements in hydrogen use.
Even though the hydrogen fuel- ing process is much like fueling a gasoline-powered vehicle, it still will challenge the safety professional to work outside of a controlled workplace setting.
Modern Hydrogen Applications
Today, motors powered by hydrogen fuel
cells are twice as efficient as combustion engines. Bob Oesterreich, U.S. Hydrogen Energy Operations Manager at Air Liq- uide, provides hydrogen-fueled forklifts for Walmart and other large industries. The benefits of hydrogen forklifts are that they do not require battery recharging, thereby saving the company time and keeping the forklift in operation continuously.
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