Why is it Important to know the Difference between Vapors and Fumes?

Learning the Difference between Vapors and Fumes

When working on improving safety within a facility, it is often important to use very precise language. If you are talking to most people, for example, you could typically use terms like vapor, fumes and even gas in a fairly interchangeable way. The fact is, however, that they are each unique and will require very specific protective equipment when present in a facility.

Making sure that everyone in the facility is aware of what vapors and fumes are, and how they are different from each other will help people to respond properly in the event of exposure to these dangers. Even if the presents of fumes or vapors are intentional, it is still essential to know how to stay safe when working with them.

What are Vapors?

Vapors are generally defined as a gaseous form of a specific substance that is normal in a solid or liquid state. A chemical, or other item, that is either solid or liquid when at normal room temperature and at normal pressure may turn into a vapor when heated sufficiently, or when the pressure is increased.

You can typically get vapors to return to their solid or liquid state by reducing the pressure or temperature sufficiently. Another important thing to keep in mind about vapors is that they can diffuse into the air in most cases. This can make them quite dangerous if you are working around them since the vapors may not be immediately visible (depending on what the vapor is from).

What are Fumes?

Fumes are a particle that has evaporated from a solid material. For example, fumes are often emitted while welding. According to OSHA, fumes are typically, “Less than one micron in diameter.” Fumes can be quite dangerous, depending on what it is that the fumes are coming from.

In most cases, however, since fumes come from solid objects, they won’t occur without warning or being anticipated. For example, when welding an object, the people in the area should know that fumes will be released, and take any precautionary measures they deem necessary.

Types of Personal Protection Equipment

One of the most important reasons why you need to know the difference between vapors and fumes is so you can make sure the proper personal protection equipment (PPE) is available. In many cases you can, for example, use just a face mask to filter out vapors, while fumes could pass right through it so you may need a full respirator.

Of course, you’ll need to know the source of the vapors or fumes in order to make sure you are taking the proper precautions. If the source of either of these is non-toxic, you may not need to wear advanced PPE. Vapors, however, are commonly associated with causing irritation to the mouth, nose and lungs, which is why it is so important to ensure all employees are properly protected.

Air Filters & Ventilation

Similar to the issue with personal protection equipment, most facilities will have specific types of air filters or ventilation requirements for areas where certain types of vapors or fumes may be present. When setting up or maintaining these systems, it is essential to know exactly what types of contaminants will need to be addressed.

If, for example, you order an air filter that is designed to remove metal fumes from the air, but then install it in an area where chemical vapors are present, it will likely not provide sufficient protection. This can allow the vapors to build up in the air and even escape into the environment, which could cause a number of very significant problems.

Having a good understanding of whether you are working with vapors or fumes, as well as identifying where the vapors or fumes will be coming from, will help you to avoid this type of problem. In addition, placing labels or other visual cues in the area where filters or vents need to go will help to make sure mistakes are not made when they are changed or maintenance is performed on them.

Placing Safety Signs

Another reason it is so important to ensure you know the difference between vapors and fumes is so you can properly label different areas of the facility. When putting up safety signs that warn of potential dangers, you need to properly identify the hazards in the area.

Putting up a sign that says, for example, ‘Warning: Toxic Fumes’ should only be done when there are actual fumes (and not vapors). While some people may think this is semantics, the fact is that it could be critical information when emergency responders are coming out to address a major issue.

In addition, when putting up any type of signs or labels (like the ones found here), it just makes sense to use precise language to avoid confusion or other problems in the future.

Regulations

There are many regulations in place from OSHA and other agencies that tell facilities how they have to deal with vapors and fumes. If you don’t take the proper precautions and stay in compliance with these regulations, it could lead to significant fines and citations from OSHA or other agencies.

Depending on the nature of the violations, this could cost the facility a significant amount of money or even require the facility to shut down until they are dealt with. This is because hazardous fumes and vapors can be extremely dangerous not only to the facility itself, but even the surrounding area if they escape from the facility due to improper filers or ventilation.

Facility Training

While it is important that everyone in the facility understand the basic differences between vapors and fumes, they don’t really need to be experts on the science behind the differences. Any training provided to most people in the facility should primarily focus on the specific types of fumes and vapors that they may be exposed to in the work environment.

The training can then go into great detail concerning what they should do to stay safe while working with these types of hazards, and how they should respond if they are exposed to unsafe levels of either fumes or vapors.

Making sure that everyone knows how to use the proper PPE and other equipment to ensure they not only stay safe themselves, but also that they don’t expose other people in the facility to dangers is also important.

There are some people, however, such as safety managers or those who are working directly with the fumes or vapors, that will need to get more in depth training on these specific types of hazards. Having a good knowledge of what each one is, and the dangers associated with it will help them to make informed decisions that can help protect the entire facility.

Are you look for training DVD’s on PPE or Hazard communication? If so, check out this two Training DVD –  PPE Training DVD .

Always Putting Safety First

Whenever working with either vapors or fumes you need to make sure you are putting safety first. While it is very important to know the difference between the two and always take steps to respond properly to the specific problem, some people can get caught up on focusing only on making sure everyone knows the differences.

In reality, however, it is much better to remain focused on keeping everyone safe. Focusing on bringing in the right personal protection equipment, for example, and keeping it in the proper locations so it is readily available will do more to keep people safe than attempting to make sure everyone is fully aware of each hazard.

For many people, it is enough just to know that there is an essential difference, and that they need to respond in the proper way according to their training. When facilities focus on safety first no matter what the hazard, they will find that they are able to operate without incident in almost any situation.

Additional Resources

• What is HAZCOM? (Hazard Communication Definition + OSHA Standards)– creativesafetysupply.com
• Welding Safety Hazards – The Five Things You Need to Know– blog.creativesafetysupply.com
• Why Hearing Protection is Important– blog.5stoday.com
• Respiratory Protection – 5 Tips to Keep your Employees Healthy– babelplex.com
• Why Six Sigma Root Cause Analysis is a Great Tool– kaizen-news.com
• A Guide to Different Pipe Marking Requirements– warehousepipemarking.com
• Why Ongoing Training is Important for Workplace Safety– aislemarking.com
• Heavy Duty Floor Tape- Why It Is Required?– heavydutyfloortape.com
• Resistance to Change in LEAN and How to Overcome it– lean-news.com