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Laboratory freezer fire - hazard alert

17 April 1996

On the morning of 18 March there was a fire in a -18°C freezer in a chemical laboratory on the Clayton campus. Fortunately no-one was injured in the fire but the freezer was destroyed and an adjacent refrigerator was damaged beyond repair. The contents of the freezer, mostly PhD research materials, were totally lost and the substances in the refrigerator were affected by heat and smoke. There was considerable smoke damage throughout the laboratory and an attached office where textbooks, PhD research notes, a computer and various items of personal property were among the objects affected by the smoke and the water used to fight the fire. Smoke also spread to the next-door laboratory and a laboratory on an upper floor.

The Fire Brigade investigators attribute the fire to vapour leaking from a glass H tube in which an ether compound was stored in the freezer. The freezer was not intrinsically safe and arcing from an internal fan is thought to have ignited the vapour. The most likely cause of the vapour leak was either damage to the glass H tube or to the loss of an effective seal between the glass tube and the Quick-Fit stoppers. The loss of the effective seal could have been the result of the temperature in the freezer and its effect on the physical properties of the tube and the stoppers.

To avoid a recurrence or similar occurrences in laboratory freezers and refrigerators Occupational Health, Safety and Environment advise that the following control measures should be implemented and maintained.

  1. Flammable chemicals to be stored only in intrinsically safe appliances
  2. All other appliances to be labelled with appropriate warning signs, eg.
    Danger - Flammable substances must not be stored in this freezer/refrigerator
  3. Glassware and all other containers used to store chemicals to be checked prior to use and before being placed into storage. Only sound glassware and containers to be used. Damaged or suspect items to be disposed of into the correct sharps or waste bins
  4. Check the effectiveness of seals shortly after placing glassware in freezers or refrigerators. Stoppers fitted at room temperature may need to be reseated after the glassware has been stored for some time at low temperatures
  5. Containers to be labelled showing contents, date of preparation and the name of the student or researcher concerned
  6. All containers to be stored in such a way within the freezer or refrigerator as to avoid the risk of them tipping or spilling if disturbed or if the appliance is bumped or jarred
  7. Surplus and waste chemicals to be removed and disposed of to prevent unnecessary accumulations and the resultant poor housekeeping

Further information

Please contact OH&S on: