Safety Tips for Transporting Gas Cylinders

Updated on April 26, 2021
Safety Tips for Transporting Gas Cylinders

Gas cylinders house specially purified and mixed gases that have wide applications in dozens of industries. In the medical field, professionals utilize pure oxygen, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, and more to treat patients. A doctor may call for a specific gas at any time, and the gas must arrive at the hospital or medical office first. These are the critical safety tips for transporting gas cylinders.

Seal and Pack With Care

Ordering gas from a specialty gas supplier takes time and energy that many medical professionals don’t have. However, the person responsible for ordering the medical gas should ask the supplier about their sealing and packing procedures. While you want to ensure the shipment arrives in one piece, you also want to know how the device works once it’s in your possession. A sealed gas cylinder can prove challenging to operate without proper guidance, so ask for directions from the supplier.

Consider Storage Needs

Many gas cylinders are tall and heavy. Rather than putting them in tight spots where they act as obstacles, you should designate an area for gas supply equipment. The last thing you want to do is lose track of a large tank of highly pressurized gas.

When selecting this space, factor in the physical area, room temperature, and storage requirements. You should also create an organizational system to identify your gases. With a proper storage area ready to receive the gases, you can take your shipments with confidence.

Establish Moving Protocols

When a medical professional must use a gas cylinder from the storage area, you need to move it from storage to an operating room. Maneuvers with such volatile items require detailed protocols. A broken or loosely sealed gas tank could cause serious trouble for patients during a procedure. Make sure to move these tanks with care, keeping spaces clear so the person moving it doesn’t bump into anything.

Keep these safety tips for transporting gas cylinders in mind as you plan to order and receive your gas shipments. Pressurized containers like these cylinders are vital to medical operations, but they do carry serious risks. Take the utmost care to handle these devices with undivided attention, and you can avoid a devastating accident.