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Why would you allow a mobile phone with its spark hazard any where near an oil refinery.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
52-6F-62 8y ago
Pretty sure the field teams aren't allowed them. Maybe in the foreman's trailer? Otherwise, as far as I understand, they can use them back in the cafeterias and locker rooms.
samfisher83 8y ago
There are different zones. In Zone 0 or Zone 1 area you can't have any of that. Also there are special phones that can be used in those zones. Those things are basically bricks.
CamperBob2 8y ago
Probably because no one has ever actually documented sparks caused by mobile phone RF emissions, at least any in current use. That was essentially a bunch of pseudoscientific FUD. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/fuelish-pleasures/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/fuelish-pleasures/ Power switches with mechanical contacts on older phones might be a different story, but again, there's no smoking gun (or flaming refinery) that points to this having ever been an issue.
- FireBeyond 8y ago
  My thought was that it was always older style cellphones with detachable batteries, and careless user dropping phone, detaching battery, and -that- caused a spark, not RF emissions.
robocat 8y ago
Aside: Mobile phone spark risk at petrol stations is a myth: http://i.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/3909468/Petrol-station-phone-ban-myth http://i.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/3909468/Petro... - Dr Kruszelnicki said the forecourt warnings were more about service station owners "covering their arses from a legal point of view". Of course, a refinery needs to be more careful of batteries.
alasdair_ 8y ago
Are phones actually spark hazards? I remember a mythbusters episode where they filled an outbuilding with dozens of different cellphones and lots and lots of open cannisters of gasoline and other petrochemicals, then called them all repeatedly without incident. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjrkwxMhc4s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjrkwxMhc4s I'm sure there are parts of a refinery where even static electricity could be enough to set something off but I'd assume they were not areas that people typically worked.
- TheCapn 8y ago
  In realm of electronics regulations the devices in those areas have to be proven safe first, not assumed safe until an incident occurs.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

Pretty sure the field teams aren't allowed them. Maybe in the foreman's trailer? Otherwise, as far as I understand, they can use them back in the cafeterias and locker rooms.

samfisher83 8y ago

There are different zones. In Zone 0 or Zone 1 area you can't have any of that. Also there are special phones that can be used in those zones. Those things are basically bricks.

CamperBob2 8y ago

Probably because no one has ever actually documented sparks caused by mobile phone RF emissions, at least any in current use. That was essentially a bunch of pseudoscientific FUD. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/fuelish-pleasures/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/fuelish-pleasures/ Power switches with mechanical contacts on older phones might be a different story, but again, there's no smoking gun (or flaming refinery) that points to this having ever been an issue.

FireBeyond 8y ago
My thought was that it was always older style cellphones with detachable batteries, and careless user dropping phone, detaching battery, and -that- caused a spark, not RF emissions.

robocat 8y ago

Aside: Mobile phone spark risk at petrol stations is a myth: http://i.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/3909468/Petrol-station-phone-ban-myth http://i.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/3909468/Petro... - Dr Kruszelnicki said the forecourt warnings were more about service station owners "covering their arses from a legal point of view". Of course, a refinery needs to be more careful of batteries.

alasdair_ 8y ago

Are phones actually spark hazards? I remember a mythbusters episode where they filled an outbuilding with dozens of different cellphones and lots and lots of open cannisters of gasoline and other petrochemicals, then called them all repeatedly without incident. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjrkwxMhc4s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjrkwxMhc4s I'm sure there are parts of a refinery where even static electricity could be enough to set something off but I'd assume they were not areas that people typically worked.

TheCapn 8y ago
In realm of electronics regulations the devices in those areas have to be proven safe first, not assumed safe until an incident occurs.