4.0 Introduction

When installing a hydrogen fuel cell system, many safety factors need to be taken into account. While Chapter 3 dealt with the general safety considerations, this chapter deals with system-specific and siting considerations, mainly focused on fire and explosion hazards. When seeking to control the risks associated with using hydrogen, it is important firstly to take all reasonable steps to prevent a loss of containment of hydrogen, secondly to ensure if there is a leak that a flammable atmosphere cannot accumulate, thirdly to control potential ignition sources where flammable atmospheres may accumulate, and finally, to use suitable protection against the fire and explosion hazards. The experimental and modelling programmes in HYPER considered scenarios related to the system siting, and the reader is referred to Appendices A5 and A6 for further information.

It should be noted that many of the regulations and standards cited in this chapter would not be applicable or relevant to residential applications. For example, the ATEX Directives [12, 15] only apply to the workplace. Nonetheless it is recommended that the general principals used in these regulations and standards be adopted for identifying hazards and implementing prevention and protection measures for residential applications.