[Use of high-flow oxygen treatment in the emergency medical service: what are the dangers for users from the perspective of occupational and fire protection?] / Anwendung von "High-flow"-Sauerstoff-Therapie im Rettungsdienst: Welche Gefahren ergeben sich für Anwender aus der Perspektive des Arbeits- und Brandschutzes?

INTRODUCTION: The administration of high concentrations of oxygen may harm patients or paramedics by increasing the probability of fire. The presented work investigated the effect of oxygen applied via high flow in different concentrations and flow rates on environmental oxygen concentrations in the patient compartment of an ambulance. RESULTS: Environmental oxygen concentrations increased rapidly over time and oxygen is stored in blankets and clothes over a long period. Simulation in a fire laboratory showed that also in high oxygen concentration settings fire needs a flame or temperatures above 300 °C. Sparks alone were not able to start a fire. CONCLUSION: Ventilation of patient compartment and clothes with ambient air are mandatory to reduce dangerous oxygen concentrations in transport of patients on high-flow oxygen treatment.

Investigations on the Staudinger explosion and its prevention.

About 100 years ago, Hermann Staudinger discovered a series of "strange explosions" involving alkali metals and halocarbons, which were not only very violent, but they were also initiated by mechanical shocks. Later these explosions were referred to as "Staudinger explosions". However, most of the resulting investigations by Staudinger were lost during World War II. Over the last 100 years, these explosions have been used as classroom experiments, but they pose a significant threat in chemical laboratories when chlorinated solvents are inadvertently mixed with alkali metals. To date, no simple methods are known to desensitize such abnormally high impact-sensitive systems, so that resulting interventions are rare, but demand lots of time and effort to desensitize these systems. Due to the particular threat, it was investigated how such a high-energy system can be phlegmatized or desensitized. The admixture of an indifferent solvent, such as an alkane, has proven to be useful, which under favorable conditions leads to an increase in the impact energy required for the explosion by more than 300%, thus making the mixture manageable for application forces.