Oberon Gas Extraction Suits (GES)

Description

Oberon Gas Extraction Suits (GES) are designed to protect workers exposed to severe and/or prolonged flash fire hazards. The most prominent example of this type of hazard is a gas leak at a pipeline company or gas utility, where a worker is lowered into a hole or pit wearing a harness system to make repairs to a pipe or a valve. Because this is a confined space, the gas tends to accumulate in the hole. If the gas ignites, a severe flash fire event is created and the worker must be “extracted” as quickly as possible.

• COLOR: Gold
• SIZE: S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL, 5XL
• WEIGHT: 22 oz/yd2
• STANDARDS COMPLIANCE: Tested according to ASTM F1930. Significantly ex- ceeds thermal protection requirements of NFPA 2112
• ASTM 2112 standard allows up to 50% body burn. At Oberon we design our suits to reduce burns to only a few percent. Suits must be used with gloves, leather boots and SCBA (for breathing and respiratory protection.)
• Oberon Gas Extraction Suits are made of Inherently FR fabrics.
• Wear with a Balaclava Knit Hood for Head Protection.
• Note: Tested for use as a complete unit – Coverall and 4-layer Balaclava

Natural gas is a gaseous fossil fuel consisting primarily of methane. When working on, repairing or maintaining transmission pipelines, especially underground pipelines exposed in a trench, there is the potential of igniting leaking gas. This ignition, often the result of a spark created by work tools, can result in an explosive release of energy or fireball that will envelope all workers within the trench. The Gas Extraction suit protects the user by insulating him or her against heat. The time it will take for the worker to climb out of the trench or the time it will take coworkers to pull the worker by his or her lanyard out of the trench is the time the worker will be exposed to the intense heat from the fire. Therefore, this expected exposure time indicates the level of protection the garment needs to provide.

Typical flame resistant (FR) coveralls used for industrial flash fire protection meet the NFPA 2112 protection requirement that a user will sustain less than 50% body area burn injury in a 3 second simulated flash fire condition based on the ASTM F1930 instrumented manikin test method. The blowing gas flash fire hazard is more severe than typical flash fires in that the exposure will be significantly longer than 3 seconds so typical single layer FR coveralls do not provide sufficient protection. Oberon’s GES15 coverall coupled with the related balaclava and an SCBA respirator mask is designed to provide significantly greater protection such that in an 15 second simulated flash fire the ASTM F1930 test showed only a 3% body area burn injury. This very low body area burn injury dramatically increases the probability to not only survive the fire ball accident but also to sustain a high quality of life. A radiant heat shielding SCBA face piece window and multilayer heat protective gloves are recommended to be used with the GES15 suit.