Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

A steel cupboard of a design proposed for the storage of flammable liquids has been subjected to an all-enveloping kerosine fire. The interior and contents of the cupboard rapidly reached high temperatures leading to the collapse of one of the shelves, destruction of gauze vents, fracture of glass bottles and the ignition of their contents, and general distortion of the cupboard. Comparison with the results of earlier tests on wooden cupboards for solvents indicates that the steel cupboard tested afforded much less protection from fire to its contents. It must be expected that any simple steel cupboard even if it were of acceptable integrity would, when exposed to a similar fire, permit its contents to be heated sufficiently for flammable liquids in bottles to escape and ignite. The cupboard was designed before the issue of the Highly Flammable Liquids and Liquefied Petroleum Gases Regulations, 1972, under the Factories Act, 1961 and does not satisfy the requirements for Certificate of Approval No.1 Schedule Part 4 under those Regulations.