Asphyxiant gas

An asphyxiant gas is a nontoxic or minimally toxicgas which reduces or displaces the normal oxygen concentration in breathing air.
Breathing of oxygen-depleted air can lead to death by asphyxiation (suffocation). Because asphyxiant gases are relatively inert and
odorless, their presence in high concentration may not be noticed, except in the case of
carbon dioxide (hypercapnia).

Toxic gases, by contrast, cause death by other mechanisms, such as competing with oxygen on the cellular level (e.g. carbon
monoxide) or directly damaging therespiratory system (e.g. phosgene). Far smaller quantities of these are deadly.

Notable examples of asphyxiant gases are nitrogen, argon, helium, butane and propane. Along with trace gases such as carbon
dioxide and ozone, these compose 79% ofEarth's atmosphere. The atmosphere is mostly harmless because the remaining 21% isO2.

Contents
Asphyxia hazard
Risk management
United States
Odorized gas

In mining
See also
References

Asphyxia hazard
Asphyxiant gases in the breathing air are normally not hazardous. Only where elevated concentrations of asphyxiant gases displace
the normal oxygen concentration does a hazard exist.Examples are:

Environmental gas displacement

Confined spaces, combined with accidental gas leaks, such asmines,[1] submarines,[2][3] refrigerators,[4] or
other confined spaces[5]
Fire extinguisher systems that flood spaces withinert gases, such as computer data centers and sealed vaults[4]
Large-scale natural release of gas, such as during theLake Nyos disaster in which volcanically-released carbon
dioxide killed 1,800 people.[6]
Release of helium boiled off by the energy released in amagnet quench such as the Large Hadron Collider or a
magnetic resonance imagingmachine.
[7]
Climbing inside an inflatable balloon filled with helium
Direct administration of gas

helium[8]
Exclusive administration, such as inhaling the contents of a balloon filled with
Inadvertent administration of asphyxiant gas inrespirators[9]
Use in suicide[10][11] and erotic asphyxiation[12]

Risk management
The risk of breathing asphyxiant gases is frequently underestimated leading to fatalities, typically from breathing helium in domestic
[13]
circumstances and nitrogen in industrial environments.
The term asphyxiation is often mistakenly associated with the strong desire to breathe that occurs if breathing is prevented. This
desire is stimulated from increasing levels of carbon dioxide. However, asphyxiant gases may displace carbon dioxide along with
oxygen, preventing the victim from feeling short of breath. In addition the gases may also displace oxygen from cells, leading to loss
of consciousness and death rapidly.

United States
The handling of compressed asphyxiant gases and the determination of appropriate environment for their use is regulated in the
United States by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH) has an advisory role.[14] OSHA requires employers who send workers into areas where the oxygen concentration is
known or expected to be less than 19.5% to follow the provision of the Respiratory Protection Standard [29 CFR 1910.134].
Generally, work in an oxygen depleted environment requires anSCBA or airline respirator. The regulation also requires an evaluation
of the worker's ability to perform the work while wearing a respirator, the regular training of personnel, respirator fit testing, periodic
workplace monitoring, and regular respirator maintenance, inspection, and cleaning."[15] Containers should be labeled according to
OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard [29 CFR 1910.1200]. These regulations were developed in accordance with the official
recommendations of the Compressed Gas Association (CGA) pamphlet P-1. The specific guidelines for prevention of asphyxiation
due to displacement of oxygen by asphyxiant gases is covered under CGA's pamphlet SB-2, Oxygen-Deficient Atmospheres.[16]
Specific guidelines for use of gases other than air in back-up respirators is covered in pamphlet SB-28, Safety of Instrument Air
.[17]
Systems Backed Up by Gases Other Than Air

Odorized gas
To decrease the risk of asphyxiation, there have been proposals to add warning odors to some commonly used gases such as nitrogen
and argon. However, CGA has argued against this practice. They are concerned that odorizing may decrease worker vigilance, not
everyone can smell the odorants, and assigning a different smell to each gas may be impractical. Another difficulty is that most
odorants (e.g., the thiols) are chemically reactive. This is not a problem with natural gas intended to be burned as fuel, which is
routinely odorized, but a major use of asphyxiants such as nitrogen, helium, argon and krypton is to protect reactive materials from
the atmosphere.[18][19]

In mining
The dangers of excess concentrations of nontoxic gases has been recognized for centuries within the mining industry. The concept of
black damp (or "stythe") reflects an understanding that certain gaseous mixtures could lead to death with prolonged exposure.[20]
Early mining deaths due to mining fires and explosions were often a result of encroaching asphyxiant gases as the fires consumed
available oxygen. Early self-contained respirators were designed by mining engineers such as Henry Fleuss to help in rescue efforts
after fires and floods. While canaries were typically used to detect carbon monoxide, tools such as the Davy lamp and the Geordie
lamp were useful for detecting methane and carbon dioxide, two asphyxiant gases. When methane was present, the lamp would burn
higher; when carbon dioxide was present, the lamp would gutter or extinguish. Modern methods to detect asphyxiant gases in mines
led to the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 in the United States which established ventilation standards in which mines
should be "...ventilated by a current of air containing not less than 19.5 volume per centum of oxygen, not more than 0.5 volume per
centum of carbon dioxide..."[21]

See also
Inert gas asphyxiation

Controlled atmosphere killing, a method of execution using asphyxiant gases

Lake Kivu
Lake Monoun
Lake Nyos
 Mazuku
Mining accidents

References
1. Terazawa K, Takatori T, Tomii S, Nakano K. Methane asphyxia. Coal mine accident investigation of distribution of
gas. Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1985 Sep;6(3):211-4.PMID 3870672 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/387067
2)
2. Discussion of the Kursk disaster and death on submarines(https://archive.is/20120910132304/http://www
.southcoas
ttoday.com/daily/08-00/08-16-00/a08wn013.htm)
3. Kirk JC. Proposed minimum requirements for the operational characteristics and testing of submersible atmosphere
monitoring and control units.Life Support Biosph Sci. 1998;5(3):287-94.PMID 11876195 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.g
ov/pubmed/11876195)
4. Gill JR, Ely SF, Hua Z.Environmental gas displacement: three accidental deaths in the workplace.
Am J Forensic
Med Pathol. 2002 Mar;23(1):26-30.PMID 11953489 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11953489)
5. Sahli BP, Armstrong CW.Confined space fatalities in Virginia. J Occup Med. 1992 Sep;34(9):910-7.PMID 1447597
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1447597)
6. BBC article on the Lake Nyos incident(http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2001/killerlakes.shtml)
7. Yoshitome K, Ishikawa T, Inagaki S, Yamamoto Y, Miyaishi S, Ishizu H. A case of suffocation by an advertising
balloon filled with pure helium gas.Acta Med Okayama. 2002 Feb;56(1):53-5.PMID 11873946 (https://www.ncbi.nl
m.nih.gov/pubmed/11873946)
8. "Archived copy" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120502101423/http://www .ci.medford.or.us/News.asp?NewsID=365
6). Archived from the original (http://www.ci.medford.or.us/News.asp?NewsID=3656)on 2012-05-02. Retrieved
2012-04-24.
9. OSHA article on asphyxiant gases accidentally fed into respirators(http://www.osha.gov/dts/shib/shib042704.html)
10. Gallagher KE, Smith DM, Mellen PF . Suicidal asphyxiation by using pure helium gas: case report, review
, and
discussion of the influence of the internet.Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 2003 Dec;24(4):361-3.PMID 14634476 (http
s://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14634476)
11. Gilson T, Parks BO, Porterfield CM.Suicide with inert gases: addendum to Final Exit.Am J Forensic Med Pathol.
2003 Sep;24(3):306-8.PMID 12960671 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12960671)
12. Shields LB, Hunsaker DM, Hunsaker JC 3rd, Wetli CV, Hutchins KD, Holmes RM.Atypical autoerotic death: part II.
Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 2005 Mar;26(1):53-62.PMID 15725777 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1572577
7)
13. BBC Family of 'helium death' teen warn of inhalation(https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11810372)
14. NIOSH [1987a]. NIOSH guide to industrial respiratory protection. Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 87-116.
15. OSHA page for nitrogen, a representative asphyxiant gas(http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/healthguidelines/nitrogen/reco
gnition.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20061006160448/http://www
.osha.gov/SLTC/healthguidelines/nitr
ogen/recognition.html) October 6, 2006, at theWayback Machine.
16. "Archived copy" (https://web.archive.org/web/20061016105007/http://www .cganet.com/publication_detail.asp?id=SB
-2). Archived from the original (http://www.cganet.com/publication_detail.asp?id%3DSB-2) on 2006-10-16. Retrieved
2006-10-12. Link to pamphlet SB-2
17. "Archived copy" (https://web.archive.org/web/20061016101928/http://www .cganet.com/publication_detail.asp?id=SB
-28). Archived from the original (http://www.cganet.com/publication_detail.asp?id%3DSB-28) on 2006-10-16.
Retrieved 2006-10-12. Link to pamphlet SB-28
18. "Archived copy"
(https://web.archive.org/web/20070928202949/http://www .specgasreport.com/archive/oderizing.htm). Archived from
the original (http://www.specgasreport.com/archive/oderizing.htm) on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2006-10-12. Summary
of CGA position on odorizing. Accessed 10/11/06
19. "Archived copy" (https://web.archive.org/web/20061016103039/http://www .cganet.com/publication_detail.asp?id=PS
-1). Archived from the original (http://www.cganet.com/publication_detail.asp?id%3DPS-1) on 2006-10-16. Retrieved
2006-10-12. Full text of CGA position on odorizing. Accessed 10/11/06
20. Mine Safety and Health Administration article about mine fire survival. Accessed 10/12/06
(http://www.msha.gov/cent
ury/mag/magcvr.asp)
21. MSHA copy of the Mine Act of 1977. Accessed 10/12/06(http://www.msha.gov/REGS/ACT/ACT2.HTM#14)

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