Gas Bottle? What Gas Bottle?

How many times have I had this frightening conversation?

Customer: “Where can I send our gas detectors for calibration?”
Me: “You can do it yourself with the gas bottle.”
Customer: “Bottle? What bottle?”
Me: “The one you use to bump test the monitor.”
Customer: “What’s a ‘bump test’?”
Me (recoiling like seeing a guy get kicked where it counts): “Have you guys done Confined Space Entry training?”
Customer: “Of course. We do it every year.”
…And this is where I go nuts (just in my head, of course).

Simply put, a bump test ensures that the monitor is doing its job. And the gas bottle is your guardian angel. I shudder at the thought of putting my life in the monitor’s hands without bump testing it first!

But the above conversation happens all…the…time… due to a lack of training.

Gas Monitor Operation Training is a need, not a want. Confined Space Entry training is required by law to familiarize workers with the dangers therein. But, because CSE trainers are not tied to any particular brand, Gas Detector Operation is almost never adequately covered. The result is a false sense of security and a dangerous lack of understanding of the very piece of equipment that protects the worker’s life. As Yogi Berra may have said, “The worker will have a really good, scientific understanding of what killed him.”

Gas detector manufacturers often do the training upon the sale. But later, for new hires or refreshers, they’re spread too thin for all but the largest customers. For Gas Detector Training, you simply Google “Gas Detector Competent Person Training,” “Gas Monitor Training,” “Gas Detector Operation Training,” or the like. Of course, the leading company is at www.gasmonitorcompetence.com, but no one likes it when an article becomes an advertisement.

Stay tuned for the next article which will explore Canadian singer, Neil Young’s, poignant statement about gas detectors.