ELEMENT 3 HYDROGEN SULFIDE INSTRUCTOR & TECHNICIAN COURSE HSID003

ELEMENT THREE

Hydrogen Sulfide Toxicity

Total Safety

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ELEMENT 3 HYDROGEN SULFIDE INSTRUCTOR & TECHNICIAN COURSE HSID003

3.1 TOXICITY TABLE OF H2S

Concentrations Description Physiological Effects

0.005 to 0.13ppm Lower Odor threshold Minimal perceptible

Odor

4:60ppm Easily detectable

10.0ppm USA Threshold limit Value & TWA Safe for 8 hours, 5
Permissible Exposure Limit days per week
5 ppm UK Threshold limit Value ( 40 Hour work week )

7 ppm Threshold limit

Kazakhstan Permissible Exposure Limit

10.0ppm UK Short Term Exposure Limit Safe for 15 minutes

15.0ppm USA averaged four times
per day

27.0ppm Strong unpleasant odor

50.0ppm USA TLV-C Not to be exceeded at
any time.
100.0ppm Coughing, eye irritation, loss
of sense of smell after 2-15
minutes, altered respiration, pain
in the eyes, drowsiness
after 15-20 minutes, throat
irritation. IDLH
Concentration (NIOSH)
Immediately Dangerous to Life and
Health

250.0 PPM Marked conjunctivitis, respiratory

tract irritation
Rapidly produces unconsciousness,
Cessation of respirations and death
in
Less than 30 minutes
300ppm Lethal Concentration
1000.0 Unconsciousness at once

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ELEMENT 3 HYDROGEN SULFIDE INSTRUCTOR & TECHNICIAN COURSE HSID003

3.2 H2S EQUIVALENTS

If one inch would represent 1 ppm of gas, this would be like comparing
one inch in 15.5 miles in distance.

If one second would represent 1 ppm of gas, this would be like comparing one second
to 11 ½ days.

Food for thought. Just remember, 100 ppm of H2S will kill your sense of smell.
That means there is 999.900 ppm of air on the flip side of the coin!

So what does all of this tell you?

That is only takes a very minimal amount of H2S to cause harm to an individual.

Equivalents

PPM Per Cent H2S in Air

0.13 0.00013%
1.0 0.0001 %
10.0 0.001 %
50.0 0.005 %
100.00 0.01 %
300.0 0.03 %
1000.0 0.1 %
10,000.0 1.0 %
43,000.0 4.3 %
100,000.0 10.0 %
460,000.0 46.0 %
1,000,000.0 100.0 %

3.3 ONE PART PER TRILLION IS A VERY FINELY-SPLIT HAIR

Worker exposure to certain chemicals is limited to a few parts per million.
Regulations reduce an industrial waste discharge to one part per billion. Pesticide
residues are found in drinking water in the low parts per trillion.

Extremely low measurements, and laws and regulations based on them, are growing
more commonplace as science perfects increasingly sophisticated sensors.

Such infinitesimal figures probably don’t register with most people. Only scientists
and plant managers, trying to get plant effluents down to levels as fine as frog hair
comprehend and appreciate their meaning.

Shedding light on the subject, Dr. Warren B. Crumett of The Dow Chemical
Company has made some comparisons that put the figures in perspective.

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ELEMENT 3 HYDROGEN SULFIDE INSTRUCTOR & TECHNICIAN COURSE HSID003

3.4 TRACE CONCENTRATION UNITS

UNIT 1 Part Per Million 1 Part Per Billion 1 Part Per Trillion
Length 1 inch/16 miles 1 inch/16,000 A six-inch leap on
miles a Journey to the sun
Time 1 minute/2 years 1 second/32 years 1 second/320
centuries
Money 1 /$10,000 1 /$10,000,000 1 /10,000,000,000
Weight 1 ounch/31 tons of 1 pinch salt/10 1 pinch salt/10,000
potato chips tons potato chips tons potato chips
Volume 1 drop vermouth/ 80 1 drop vermouth/ 1 drop
“fifth” gin 500 barrels gin vermouth/250
hogsheads of gin
Area 1 ft2/23 acres 1 ft2/36 miles2 1 in2/250 miles
Action 1 bogey/3,500 golf 1 bogey/3,500,000 1
Tournaments golf tournaments bogey/3,500,000,00
0 golf tournaments
Quality 1 bad apple/2,000 1 lob/1,200,000 1
barrels tennis matches lob/1,200,000,000
tennis matches
Rate 1 dented fender/10 car 1 dented 1 dented
lifetimes fender/10,000 car fender/10,000,000
lifetimes car lifetimes

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ELEMENT 3 HYDROGEN SULFIDE INSTRUCTOR & TECHNICIAN COURSE HSID003

3.5 TOXICITY OF HYDROGEN SULPHIDE *

H2S Percent 0 – 2 min 0 – 15min 15 – 30min 30 min – 1hr 1 – 4 hrs 4 – 8 hrs 8 – 48 hrs

0.005 Mild
(50ppm) conjunctiviti
s
Respiratory
tract
irritation
0.010 Coughing Disturbed Throat Salivation Increased Hemorrhage,
(100ppm) & respiration and mucous symptoms death
0.015 Irritation of Pain in eyes, discharge,
(150ppm) eyes, loss of sleepiness sharp pain in
smell eyes.,
coughing
0.015 Lose smell Throat & eye Throat & eye Difficult Serious Hemorrhage,
(150ppm) irritation irritation breathing, irritating death
& blurred effects
0.020 vision, light
(200ppm) and shy
0.025 Irritation of Irritation of Painful Light & shy Hemorrhage,
(250ppm) eyes, loss of eyes secretion of nasal death
0.035 sense of tears, catarrh, pain
(350ppm) smell Weariness in eyes,
difficulty
breathing
0.035 Irritation of Difficult Increased Dizziness, Death*
eyes, loss of respiration, irritation of weakness,
sense of coughing, eyes, dull increased
smell irritation of head pain, irritation,
eyes weariness, death
light and shy
0.050 Irritation of Difficult Increased Dizziness, Death*
(500ppm) eyes, loss of respiration, irritation of weakness,
sense of coughing, eyes and increased
smell irritation of nasal tract, irritation,

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ELEMENT 3 HYDROGEN SULFIDE INSTRUCTOR & TECHNICIAN COURSE HSID003

eyes dull head death

pain,
weariness,
light and shy
0.050 Coughing, Respiratory Serious eye Severe pain
(500ppm) collapse and disturbances irritation, in eyes and
unconscious , irritation of palpitation head,
ness eyes, of heart, few dizziness,
collapse cases of trembling of
death* extremities,
great
weakness,
death*
0.060 Collapse* Collapse*
(600ppm)
0.070 Unconscious Unconscious
(700ppm) ness ness
0.080 Death* Death*
(800ppm)

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Element 3 Hydrogen Sulfide Instructor & Technician Course HSI003

3.6 CASE HISTORIES OF H2S ACCIDENTS:

It is important to suspect H2S in most processes until proven otherwise. H2S is found
widely in industry and few workers are aware of their potential exposure as well as
the potential hazards involved from the exposure. Where H2S is concerned, we
should assume there is a risk. So until proven otherwise, suspect and protect against
this killer.

Accidents associated with H2S continue to occur even though we all know about the
extremely dangerous properties of the gas. People tend to disregard the danger and
down they go! If they are not properly rescued and resuscitated, they die.

Case 1
In December, 1975, H2S began leaking from a gas injection well some 150 yards from
the home of a local resident near Denver City, TX. The H2S leaking from the well,
mixed with carbon dioxide, made it visible as a white cloud. When rescuers finally
arrived, they found the bodies of 8 people on the lawn. They died trying to make it to
their pick-up truck. Across the street in another pick-up was the body of a 19 year old
employee of the producing company which operated the injection well. H2S causes
most metals to become brittle and eventually crack. This situation was responsible
for the accident in which a nipple on the pressure indicator became brittle.

Case 2
A thirty-five year old workman collapsed a minute or two after descending into a
fifteen-foot deep sewer to collect water samples. He had encountered high
concentrations of H2S The 2 would-be rescuers also collapsed. They all died.

Case 3
On a hot August morning in 1973 near Hollywood, Kansas, 5 men at a producing
company were preparing to clean out a free water knockout tank (used to separate
water from crude oil and drain it off) and change the anti-corrosion anodes in the tank.
The men removed the hatch and lowered a ladder into the tank. One man climbed in
part of the way and was handed the fifty-pound anode to be lowered to the bottom of
the tank by him while holding his breath. He started to come back up, but just as he
got half way out of the hatch, he passed out and started to fall back. One of the men
grabbed his shirt collar, but couldn’t get him all the way up, so he climbed into the
tank and lifted him out to the two other men. While they were lowering the first
victim to the ground, the first rescuer passed out and fell into the tank. While one
man gave the initial victim resuscitation, two went to rescue the second victim. The
initial victim revived and was told to stay put while the rescuer put in a call for help
over the truck radio.

But the initial victim got up and went back into the tank without the rescuer’s
knowledge. After the call for help was made, the rescuer, not seeing anyone, climbed
to the top of the tank and looked in. All 4 men were lying at the bottom of the tank,
dead from H2S poisoning.

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Element 3 Hydrogen Sulfide Instructor & Technician Course HSI003

Case 4
A 42 year-old man and his son became unconscious while emptying a cesspool in
their backyard. The man regained consciousness and tried to move his son. He
became unconscious again, and when revived by neighbors, made a speedy recovery.
The boy remained unconscious and died despite continued CPR.

Case 5
On August 28, 1978, the 19 year old son of a Westlake, LA deputy sheriff died after
he inhaled deadly chemical flames as he emptied a tank of waste chemicals at a
disposal site. The medical examiner said the young man died from inhaling H 2S
fumes produced when the chemicals he was dumping reacted with chemicals already
in the disposal site.

What were the main causes of the above accidents? What do you think could have
prevented the above accidents?

All of these accidents could easily have been avoided if only the proper precautions
were taken.

Some of the ways in which we will learn to protect ourselves from H2S are as follows:

• Through proper training.

• Repeated drills.
• Learning how to use and utilize safety equipment such as gas detection
devices and breathing air systems.
• Contingency planning.
• Emergency response procedures.

WE WILL LEARN NOT TO FEAR BUT TO RESPECT H2S!

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